


Flu Love's Kiss

by PrincessCharming



Series: Flu Love's Kiss series [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Awkward Sexual Situations, Drama, F/F, Family Secrets, Humor, Romance, Sexual Humor, Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-08
Updated: 2013-04-22
Packaged: 2017-12-04 16:04:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 35,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/712544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessCharming/pseuds/PrincessCharming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Magic returns to Storybrooke bringing back magical illnesses as well. 'Love Flu' is going around and it's catching. Swan Queen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stuck on you

**Author's Note:**

> This story begins after the Season One finale.

Emma sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve before knocking on the door to 108. She coughed and knocked again impatiently, ready to get the hell home and collapse in bed.

"Uh, Emma? You don't look so good," said Henry, at her side.

"It's just the flu, Henry," said Emma, her voice sounding nasal. She started to sway a bit waiting for Regina to hurry up and answer the door.

"Why do I have to go home?" Henry wrinkled his nose. He hadn't been home since before the curse had broken.

Emma sighed. "Kid, I don't want you to get sick. That's why you have to stay with your Mom this weekend ok?"

"But magic is back now and she's evil."

The door opened just in time for Regina to catch her son's words. Her schooled features and tight expression showed that she had heard however.

"Henry. Miss Swan. What can I do for you?"

"Hey uh," Emma stammered. "Regina, I'm not feeling so great, so I was wondering if you would take Henry... uh just for the weekend."

"Just for the weekend," echoed Henry.

Regina nodded. "Of course. Henry, why don't you go on upstairs. Your room's ready."

The boy scampered past his mother and ran upstairs with his backpack.

When he was gone Emma felt the weight of Regina staring hard at her. The last time she'd seen the brunette she'd been fleeing the hospital after tearily insisting to Henry that she did in fact love him. The former mayor had laid low ever since. The rest of Storybrooke had gone back to normal and everyday life had resumed... but nobody had entirely forgotten the Evil Queen.

"I know, this is awkward as hell. It's just, I don't want him to get sick," said Emma, trailing off.

"How responsible of you," sneered Regina.

Emma prickled at the slight against her parental experience or lack thereof.

"Look, I get it alright. But I'm uh, ...huh I'm too tired to fight wi' you," slurred Emma, starting feel faint again.

"You look like death, Miss Swan," said Regina, shocked by how hot against her hand the blonde's forehead was.

"Oh for god's sake come inside before you fall. You can't drive in that state."

Stepping into the foyer, Emma coughed again and managed to sneeze on Regina after the brunette closed the door behind them.

"Ugh, Miss Swan! Are you trying to share whatever disgusting illness you have contracted?"

"Sorry," Emma said weakly. She began to sway dangerously again and Regina caught her.

The brunette sighed in annoyance. "Guest rooms are upstairs. Just... stay away from me."

"Sure, but you gotta let go of my hand first."

"I'm not holding your hand. You're holding mine. Let go."

"What- I'm not-" said Emma, confused and weary. She tried to pull her palm away from Regina's but it seemed to be stuck.

"Miss Swan, what the hell is going on?"

" _Miss Swan!"_

That was the last Emma heard before she blacked out.

* * *

When Emma came to she was lying on the couch and something was patting at her face.

"Stoppit. Cut it out."

Emma tried to raise her right hand at the annoyance but someone else's hand came with hers. She opened her eyes blearily.

"Regina, whuh?"

"You fainted, Miss Swan," said Regina, kneeling on the floor and leaning over her.

"What did you do to her," said Henry crossly. He'd heard the commotion and came running downstairs to see his mother magically transporting an unconscious Emma to the couch.

"Henry, enough. She'll be fine. Go and get a wet washcloth, please."

Emma tried to sit up, her head pounding. "Ugh. What's with our hands."

"I don't know. Something magical," said Regina, a little evasively. Her left hand was still joined to Emma's right.

Emma groaned and started coughing again into her free hand.

"Believe me," said Regina in disgust. "This is much worse for me than it is for you."

"Well, maybe I'll die of this flu and solve all your problems, Your Majesty."

"One can only wish," said Regina sarcastically.

"Yeah well, we better figure this out. But in the meantime, you're stuck with me," smirked Emma.

* * *

"What do you mean _Love Flu_?" said Emma raising a derisive eyebrow.

Mr Gold chuckled and rested his palms on the glass counter. "It's just like the regular flu only a lot more fun."

Regina had transported them both in a cloud of purple smoke and they'd appeared a second later outside the pawn shop. It was late and the shop was technically closed, but she insisted that there was only one person in town with magical knowledge who might know what they were dealing with.

"Look, I'm really not well enough for this crazy magic stuff right now. Can you just explain," said Emma tiredly.

"Love Flu," said Gold. "Also known as Honeymoon Hayfever, is a fairly common magical illness back in our land. Spreads like wildfire. It's very common among married couples and lovers."

"Miss Swan and I are nothing of the kind," snapped Regina. "How is this even possible?"

"I think you know, dearie," said Gold pointedly.

"Yeah but, how did I get it? And why am I stuck to Regina?" Emma was still hopelessly confused and all this was making her head spin.

"It's a contagion passed from one person to another usually via sexual contact or attraction."

Emma started a coughing fit again and turned red in the face.

"We're leaving," said Regina flatly. She turned on her heel to leave and was pulled back by the connection to Emma.

"Wait," Emma said, before switching back to Gold. She held up hers and Regina's joined hands. "How do we fix this?"

"There's no cure for Love, dearie. You just have to ride it out," Gold said, giving her a one-sided grin. "It will only last a few days. Probably."

"Gold," snarled Regina with gritted teeth.

"Oh and I would stay indoors until you recover. Wouldn't want to give anyone in town the wrong impression now would we?"

Emma scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Who cares. It just looks like we're holding hands."

Regina's face darkened like a storm. Mr Gold caught her glares impassively and shrugged.

"You should count yourselves lucky that you're only attached by the hands. It is a lover's disease after all."

* * *

"Regina, would you slow down."

"Regina?"

Emma coughed roughly, the furious march and chill of the night air was worsening her chest. She could see her breath clouding in front of her as they left Gold's shop.

"Regina, STOP."

Emma yanked on their hands and spun the brunette around to face her. If the indignant look Regina gave her was any indication, she was not amused by their diagnosis.

"You knew what this was didn't you?" said Emma hoarsely.

"I had my suspicions." Regina scanned the darkened street warily.

Emma narrowed her eyes at her shrewdly. "Wait, have you had this before?"

"No," snapped Regina.

"Hey. You're acting like I made you sick on purpose."

"Of course this is your fault. You think I want to be stuck with you? This is completely one-sided and it's all because of whatever puerile attraction you have to me."

Emma let out a laugh and raised her eyebrows. "What, you think I-"

"Everything ok here?" said Archie, appeared at their side with Pongo. He smiled genially at them. "Beautiful night for a stroll isn't it?"

"Hey, Archie," Emma put on a convincing smile and trying to act normal. It was a bit hard considering Regina was shiftily avoiding eye contact and her entire body language screamed 'go away'.

Archie give them a perceptive look. He didn't miss noticing their joined hands. " _Oh_!"

Emma cringed inwardly. "It's late, so we're just gonna uh..."

"Well, have a nice night, ladies. Let's go, Pongo!" Archie nodded at each of them and continued on his way.

"He knows," said Regina flatly. "It'll be all over the town by morning."

"Regina," groaned Emma. "Calm down. He's not going to tell anyone, he's a shrink."

"We have to stop him."

Emma's mouth dropped open in shock. "By doing what exactly? Geez, like anyone's going to believe it anyway."

Regina snapped a strained look at her and then sneezed. She stared at her free hand horrified by the confirmation that she was indeed sick too. Her eyes were starting to glaze over.

"You don't look so good. We'd better get you-" Emma started, but she was interrupted by the purple swirling mist around them.

A second later they appeared on the porch of the mansion.

"- home."

That last bit of magic must've taken a lot out of Regina in her sick state and Emma only just caught her. She slumped against Emma's side in a dead faint.


	2. Sick of you

Emma woke with a start in an unfamiliar bed. She peered around in the dark trying to place where she was. She heard a noise and realised what had woken her up. Regina was lying beside her muffling a coughing fit into her pillow.

"Regina, are you ok?" she whispered.

"No, I'm dying." Regina's snark came out in a cough-ragged voice, nasal from a stuffy nose. The flu symptoms had obviously caught up with her.

"You sound terrible. Have you got any cough syrup in the house?"

A small bottle magically appeared in Regina's free hand and she held onto it so Emma could twist off the cap with her free hand and measure out a dose. Emma held the little cap up to Regina's lips and stared as the point of a tongue darted out to lick the last bit of syrup.

"Better?"

Regina fell back onto her pillow and sighed tiredly. She must've been pretty out of it not to complain when Emma reached across her to place the bottle on the nightstand.

After they'd appeared back at the house last night Emma had half-lifted half-dragged Regina upstairs to bed. The brunette had come to just long enough to check that Henry was already asleep in his room and to conjure herself a pair of slate satin pyjamas. Then she'd collapsed into bed dragging a fully-clothed Emma with her.

Regina had slipped back into a feverish sleep and Emma wasn't far behind.

* * *

It felt like only 5 minutes later when the door opened and Emma woke up again.

"Mom, have you seen Emma? - Oh."

It was Henry. Still half-asleep Emma sat up, making sure the blankets still covered her and Regina's joined hands. Emma figured since she hadn't moved Regina must still be asleep.

"Kid, what are you doing up so early?" groaned Emma, rubbing her tired face. Although, she had to admit she felt much better this morning. Her flu symptoms had eased off a lot and she could breathe again. Finally, ahh.

"It's nearly 10. Why are you in here?" Henry's face scrunched in confusion.

Emma sighed and spoke softly. "Henry, your Mom's real sick now. I have to take care of her."

"Really?! But the Evil Queen never gets sick," Henry whispered back, keen to see this novelty for himself.

"Henry, don't come in," warned Emma. She figured that Henry couldn't really catch what they had but she also didn't want him to _know_ what they had.

"But-" started Henry.

"You're going to have to stay with Mary Margaret and David for a little while ok?"

Henry sighed a long-suffering sigh and left. "Fine."

Emma had barely laid back down on the bed before he was back hanging around the doorway wearing his backpack.

"Mom, can I have some money? I want hot chocolate," asked Henry.

Regina lifted her head to peer blearily at him and replied in a nasal voice. "If you go find my purse there should be enough notes in there."

"I was talking to Emma," said Henry evenly.

There was a beat of awkwardness and Emma felt Regina stiffen in response and lay back down silently. She'd heard the title 'Mom' and automatically assumed that meant her.

"Kid, my wallet's at home, you'll have to-" Emma trailed off noticing that Henry had disappeared. Poor kid. Mary Margaret would no doubt stuff him full of cookies and cinnamon hot chocolate when he got to the apartment.

"So. You're awake," said Emma.

"And you're irritating," said Regina, continuing the state-the-obvious game.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You sound a bit better than you did last night anyways. And don't worry about Henry, he'll come round. He's just mad-"

"Because I'm the Evil Queen?" said Regina sarcastically.

"Uh, yeah," said Emma, drawing out the last word in a 'duh' voice. "Even though, well, it's completely weird. I can't believe you're really her, you know, that old hag from the movie with the apple and the 'I'll get you my pretty'."

Regina turned over with an incredulous face. "That's not even the right movie, you idiot."

Emma grinned slyly, enjoying the reaction she was getting. "Pretty sure you fall off a cliff in the end."

Regina threw the covers off angrily and got out of bed, roughly dragging a protesting Emma with her.

* * *

"So what're we doing today?" asked Emma, following Regina into a kitchen that looked like a cross between Martha Stewart and Masterchef.

"What?" Regina frowned.

"Well, what do you normally do: eat breakfast, read the paper, set some peasants on fire...?"

Regina decided to ignore the irritating blonde and started to get the things together to make coffee and microwave oatmeal. Emma trailed behind her as she moved about the kitchen. She was absolutely not going to cook anything one-handed. Emma could go hungry for all she cared. She shut the microwave door and punched in the numbers with more force than necessary.

"I'll just have whatever cereal Henry eats," said Emma, without being asked.

When Regina got a box of cereal out of the pantry and handed it to her, Emma scrunched her face. The label mentioned fibre, nutrients, healthy... What the hell was this? There was no way a ten-year-old would eat this cardboard crap. She was just about to complain to Regina when she noticed that the cereal inside the packet didn't match the picture - the box was full of Froot Loops.

Smiling with gleeful smugness at Henry's little secret, Emma poured out some cereal into a bowl. But her left hand was clumsy and the colourful rings overflowed the bowl and skittered across the kitchen bench.

"Make yourself at home, Miss Swan," said Regina in annoyance.

"Hey, what d'you expect? I'm right-handed," said Emma, waving her left hand, the only one that was free. "Guess I can't do any paperwork for a while, what a shame."

"Your handwriting is atrocious. I doubt it would make a difference," Regina sniffed. "Thankfully, reading your paperwork is no longer my job."

"Yeah well, I'm more of an action kinda girl," Emma grinned and raised her eyebrows.

She could've sworn she saw Regina's eyes darken in response before she quickly turned away to retrieve a pair of spoons from the drawer.

* * *

Once they'd started eating breakfast in relative peace, Emma's phone rang and she pulled it out of the back pocket of her jeans to check the display.

_Call from MARY MARGARET_

Uh oh. Activate over-protective Mom mode, thought Emma. Henry must've arrived at the apartment and ratted her out. She held the phone at arm's length as it continued to ring trying to decide whether to answer it or not. Regina snatched it out of her hand and pressed speaker phone.

"Miss Blanchard, good morning," Regina trilled in her best politician voice though the effect was a little diminished by her stuffy nose.

" _Wha- Regina?! Why are you answering Emma's phone? Oh my god, you've killed her."_

"Not yet, but it's still early," said Regina.

Emma rolled her eyes at the brunette and then spoke to the phone now sitting on the bench. "Mary Margaret, I'm ok. I'm at Regina's 5-star hotel and she's taking such great care of me."

" _Henry-said-that-you-two-slept-together_!" shrieked Mary Margaret over the phone, apparently no longer able to contain herself.

Emma groaned and slapped her free palm over her face. "It's not like that. Let me explain-"

A new deeper voice joined in over the phone, it was David. " _Regina. I swear if you've corrupted my daughter-_ "

"Oh, I didn't do anything she didn't enjoy," Regina said in a husky innuendo-laden voice, stirring the spoon through her oatmeal.

" _Emma!_ " wailed the phone.

"Listen, guys, she's just riling you up," said Emma starting to get exasperated with all of them. "We've both got the flu. That's why I sent Henry home."

" _You do sound sick. You should come home, Emma, so we can take care of you."_

Emma felt slightly guilty at the plaintive worry in Mary Margaret's voice, but neither did she want to be coddled and fussed over. It was just... too soon. Not to mention the fact that she was literally stuck to her mother's not-so-former enemy.

"I uh, have to take care of Regina," said Emma. "Even though she's a really bad patient and apparently never too sick to annoy the shit out of everyone."

It was clear, even down the phone that the last part was said directly to Regina not about her.

" _Oh my god. You're FLIRTING with her_ ," gasped Mary Margaret.

"I'm sorry, Miss Blanchard. Emma and I have to go jump in the bath now." Regina tapped the phone screen to end the call.

"Really, Regina. Why did you have to go and do that," said Emma, completely unimpressed and shaking her head. Now Mary Margaret would never let this go.

Regina gave her that wicked grin she used whenever she'd won a round. "Because. I want a bath."


	3. Gotta thing for you

"You were serious?" said Emma nervously, her mouth going dry as she looked around. "I thought you were just trying to annoy my parents."

The blonde eyed the huge sunken spa bath in the center of a bathroom that seemed bigger than Mary Margaret's apartment. The room wasn't even filled by the bath, it also had a separate glass-walled shower and an enormous black-and-white marble vanity with chrome fixtures. The entire wall was covered by mirrors of different shapes with silver frames that threw the dim lighting around.

It was pure Regina elegance everywhere and Emma was so very dead.

"Miss Swan, I wouldn't have thought that _you_ would have a problem with communal bathing," said Regina.

"What?" Emma squeaked before getting her meaning. "Oh, right. Prison joke. Those never get old - just like you."

Regina narrowed her eyes at her. "Clearly I missed my opportunity to drown you at birth. I suppose I could rectify that mistake now."

"Whatever. Are we going to do this or what?" Emma fidgeted uncomfortably, hoping that Regina couldn't feel how clammy her hand was in hers.

"Do what, Miss Swan."

"You know, get naked. Have a bath."

Regina leaned in and gave her a patronising look. "No, _I'm_ having a bath. You will be sitting here on the step until I've finished."

Emma rolled her eyes and plonked herself on the slate stone step that ran around the edge of the large bath. The arm that was attached to Regina's dangled above her head and she felt like a pathetic child being dragged around the mall.

Regina waved her free hand casually and the bath instantly filled with a rush of hot water. "Close your eyes."

"Yup, closed," Emma lied. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a pile of clothes slip magically to the floor beside her.

Of course Regina hadn't meant it, Emma thought with a grumble. The brunette hated her, she despised even having to share breathing space with her. There was no way in hell Regina would be attracted to her which was a relief because of how complicated it would be with Henry and - oh god, her parents. But if it was such a relief why did she feel- No. Absolutely not, she was definitely _not_ disappointed to not be sharing a bath with the most infuriating insufferable -

Emma's jaw dropped. Just before the steam fogged up all the mirrors, she caught a glimpse of a lithe naked form stepping into the bath.

\- stunningly beautiful woman in Storybrooke, her mind finished.

Emma groaned before she could stop herself and the image was now burned into her brain permanently. She froze, heart pounding in her chest, hoping like hell it hadn't been audible. She listened hard, waiting for the brunette to say anything indicating she'd heard, but all there was was the soft sound of water settling.

* * *

The twenty minutes or so in the bath had felt like hours to Emma with forcing herself not to let her head snap around at every slight splash of movement. She never trusted herself to speak to Regina, clenching her jaw the whole time. The hot steam from the bath must've soothed her cough-roughened throat and every now and again Regina would sigh. It was torturous enough for Emma, trying not to picture what was going on behind her. So close that she could just turn around and -

Emma caught her breath suddenly, feeling Regina's hand pull on hers as she stepped out of the bath.

When Emma dared to look up Regina stood above her, dressed for the day wearing her usual corporate-ish style. Her hair was dry but the ends were damp and curling prettily around her face.

Dammit. Regina was obviously cheating and using magic for things like dressing. Completely ruining Emma's chance of seeing the brunette in nothing but a towel with water droplets beading on her tanned skin, which of course, she reminded herself, she had absolutely no interest in seeing and was not in any way disappointed about missing out on.

"So it's my turn now?" asked Emma, getting up off the hard step.

Regina's lips parted baring her teeth in a predatory smile. She pointed her index finger to the ceiling and followed it with her dark eyes, encouraging Emma to look up as well.

"What is that," said Emma, frowning.

It looked like a fluffy grey mist forming above her head. Wait, was that a ...? At the last second, Regina stepped back as far as their joined hands allowed.

"Wha- OHHHH!" Emma shrieked in shock as a torrent of dead-cold water poured out of the cloud, saturating her instantly. Too stunned by the sudden cold she couldn't move out of her own personal downpour. She tensed her shoulders and was chilled to the bone even though it was all over in seconds.

"R-re-gina! W-what the h-hell!" Emma shivered violently, water dripping from her clothes and hair and forming a puddle at her feet.

"I thought you could use a cold shower, dear."

Shit. Regina did hear. Emma cursed the supersonic hearing ability of Moms everywhere, annoyed and embarrassed that she'd been caught out.

"A c-c-cold shower, are you insane?... I have the f-flu," chattered Emma angrily. A rough cough seized her chest as if to make her point.

Regina flicked her wrist backwards in front of her and in an instant Emma was completely dry and dressed in clothes from her own wardrobe. The same outfit she'd turned up to Storybrooke in actually- skinny jeans, white tank, long-sleeved knit. Trust Regina to pick the stupid grey see-through thing that Emma hated and had only thrown on in a hurry since Henry was hovering impatiently outside her bedroom.

"I won't have you dripping and making a mess all over my carpet," Regina avoided her eyes and headed for the door, pulling Emma behind.

* * *

"Mary Margaret, calm down."

"Calm down?! Regina's got Emma, she's dangerous! She could be doing god-knows-what to her-"

David cringed. "Do you really think it's a good idea we've come unannounced?"

Mary Margaret bounced on her heels with the jitters and knocked again impatiently near the gold 108. "Why aren't they answering?"

"I'm sure they're just busy," offered David lamely. He shrugged his shoulders with his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

Mary Margaret glared balefully at his unfortunate choice of words before the door cracked slightly and Emma peeked out.

"Uh, hey guys," said Emma nonchalantly through the gap in the door. "I'm fine but you shouldn't come too close. It's still a Biohazard zone in here."

"Emma! Are you sure you're okay? Why is Regina keeping you here?" said Mary Margaret, worry etched over her face.

"She's not."

"We've known her a long time, Emma. You can't trust her," warned David.

"Guys, really? I'm a big girl," said Emma, a little chagrined. "I have to uh, go now. Thanks for stopping by."

Mary Margaret narrowed her eyes shrewdly. "You're trying to get rid of us."

"What, no I'm not-"

Emma tried to shut the door with one hand but Mary Margaret pushed her weight harder against it. The door swing was interrupted by something solid and there were two angry cries of pain in quick succession. Someone was standing behind the door.

"Ow, Regina! What'd you do that for?"

"Because somebody shoved a door into me!"

Mary Margaret froze in fright as the door opened wider to reveal Regina, glaring and rubbing her left shoulder. She had just opened a door into her mortal enemy who was now standing in the doorway side-by-side with the pixie-haired brunette's only daughter.

Mary Margaret took a deep breath like she was facing a firing squad and her words came out in a rush. "Regina, I want my daughter back."

"Why, Miss Blanchard, I'd be happy to get rid of Typhoid Mary but I'm afraid that's not possible," said Regina. "However, I would be willing to sever her arm at the wrist if you insist."

Emma sneered at the brunette at her side. "I doubt a bloody stump would go with that outfit."

"Er, do either of you want to explain what's going on," asked David, firmly setting his jaw and looking like he might be considering going for his shotgun.

Mary Margaret's eyes widened as she noticed the two women's joined hands. "Oh my god. It's Love Flu."


	4. Sweet on you

"You and her?! How did you get Love Flu?" cried Mary Margaret, but she had a sinking feeling she already knew.

"Wait, Love Flu? I've heard of that but it was fairly rare where I came from," said David, trying to play catch-up. He'd been raised on a farm without much contact with other parts of the realm so his knowledge of the sickness was limited.

"It's a magical illness," explained Mary Margaret. "They say it was brought to our land by Cupid to reunite lovers."

"Hold up, you know what this is?" Emma asked her mother, disbelief turning into suspicion.

"Yes, Miss Blanchard." The corner of Regina's mouth curled up in a grin. "Tell your daughter how you know all about this magical ailment."

"Regina," hissed Mary Margaret, with a shifty glance at David.

"Don't worry, dear. Your secret is safe with me," Regina said with an evil glint in her eye.

Mary Margaret sighed heavily and it was more a growl of frustration.

"Why do I get the feeling 'we were cursed' isn't going to cut it here?" said David.

"Okay, this isn't about me. This is about you two," said Mary Margaret, pinning the guilty pair with her gaze.

"Now, explain."

* * *

Mary Margaret flipped open the cupboards one at a time in Regina's kitchen looking for ingredients and mugs. Regina had originally intended to make the coffee herself but as she moved around the kitchen Emma kept bumping into her. Mary Margaret lost her patience with them and ordered the pair to sit at the bench like they were misbehaving students.

Milk sloshed out of the little serving jug when the pixie-haired brunette placed it in front of the other three adults, joining the four waiting mugs and spoons. She poured out the coffee taking more care with the boiling liquid.

"How do you take your coffee, Regina?" asked David politely, offering the milk.

"Black, like her soul," quipped Emma. She clumsily dumped six sugar cubes into her own mug with the tongs in her left hand.

"At least my teeth will last out the year cavity-free," said Regina. "Unlike yours, Miss Swan. I hope that sugar habit hasn't rubbed off on Henry."

"I let Henry have as much candy as he wants when he's with me," said Emma smugly, only slightly exaggerating.

"Of course you do, dear. Anything to undermine me," Regina said under her breath.

Emma pressed her lips tightly. "He seems to have gone off healthy food like apples lately. Any reason why that might be."

The air in the room tensed like coiled springs. Regina didn't react visibly, she merely stared at her coffee mug watching the dark liquid swirl.

Just thinking about Henry's poisoning still brought rage boiling up inside Emma. It didn't matter that Regina hadn't intended to hurt her son, Emma was angry anyway. Like it was any better that she was supposed to be the target of the fatal treat. She was a little surprised though that Regina just sat there and took the well-deserved stab. Emma felt a pang of guilt and almost burned her mouth on her first sip of coffee.

"Okay, so this Love Flu thing...," prompted David to interrupt the awkward silence.

"Here's the thing," said Emma, recounting it like a boring series of events. "I started feeling sick yesterday but I thought it was just the flu. So I brought Henry to Regina's to stay so that he wouldn't catch it. But I ended up infecting Regina and now we're stuck together."

Mary Margaret nodded once and bit her lips together. "But Love Flu is only passed by love or attraction."

Emma's face burned at having to admit it. "Yes, alright. I'm attracted to Regina. She's already made a point of telling me how stupidly one-sided it is. Can we please move on."

Mary Margaret tilted her head shrewdly at Regina and had an 'a-ha' moment. It was her turn to one-up her former enemy since she knew full well that there was no such thing as one-sided Love Flu.

Regina met the triumphant gaze impassively, without so much as a blink.

"Well. That's interesting," said Mary Margaret. "I agree, Emma. Let's move on."

"So, how long does this last?" asked David.

"Mr Gold said a few days maybe," answered Emma.

"Worst case I ever heard of was a couple stuck together for a year," said Mary Margaret with a grimace.

"What," exclaimed Emma. "A year?!"

Mary Margaret nodded sagely. "They were quite stubborn about it but they came around eventually."

"But... a year of holding hands..." Emma considered it, horrified by the details that came to mind.

"Oh, they weren't stuck by the hands." Mary Margaret laughed until she caught David's pointed look and was immediately chastened.

"I can't tell if you're being serious," said Emma, squinting with a side glance. "How does that even work?"

"It's magic, dear," said Regina. "Don't ask."

* * *

Once the nosy parents had had enough of the explanations and teasing, Emma and Regina showed them to the door the way they did everything now - like they were paired contestants in some sort of weird three-legged race but with tied hands instead of feet.

Regina started to sway dangerously as she shut the front door and Emma pulled her close to steady her. Regina was a bit behind Emma in recovering from the flu symptoms and was feeling faint again. Emma managed to get the brunette upstairs and into bed before she collapsed.

"Easy there, tiger. Lie down before you fall down."

"You're still here. Thought it was a dream," Regina said weakly.

"You're not hallucinating, no," said Emma giving the wan brunette an amused smile. With her back against the bed-head she sat up next to where Regina was lying on her side, their joined hands lay on the pillow between them.

"But I was starting to feel better..." Regina complained.

"That's the thing with the flu, sometimes just when you think you're over it it comes back. Coughs usually get worse towards nighttime. Have you really never been sick before?"

"Only been in love once," slurred Regina as she slipped away into sleep.

And with that Emma had the answer to a question she hadn't even known she'd asked.

* * *

"Argh, no, … come on, yes!" Emma spoke softly to her phone screen in between noises of frustration. She held the phone in her left hand swiping at the touch game with her thumb. Her scores were pitiful with only her non-dominant hand available.

Regina came awake blearily to the jostling of the bed and complained about it. "What are you doing, Emma."

"Playin' Fruit Ninja. Sorry, did I wake you?"

"No, dear," said Regina sarcastically. "I don't mind seeing as it's something so vitally important."

"Wanna play? Come on, it's got apples in it..." Emma offered and held out the phone.

"I'm going back to sleep." Regina made as if to roll over and ignore the annoying blonde.

"Oh no you aren't," contradicted Emma with a shake of the head. She pulled on Regina's hand a few times. "Up! I'm starving and I really need to pee."

_Again?_ Regina groaned in her flu-foggy head.

It wasn't the first time they'd had to go through the awkwardness of bathroom necessities. In fact, it was one of many times since they'd been stuck together. Regina thought Emma must have a bladder the size of walnut and the fuss she'd made about privacy had been irritating yet amusing. _"I can't go if you're listening!"_ she'd said and insisted that Regina use a magic spell every single time. Something Emma called the 'Cone of Silence', which was basically just a silencing spell.

Regina was tempted to put a permanent silencing spell on her and be done with it.

But the first time she'd said that, Emma had yanked her inside the glowing blue magic bubble and said, raising her eyebrows lasciviously, _"This could be very useful. No-one can hear us in here, right?"_

But now Emma dragged a reluctant and still-sleepy Regina out of bed and into the bathroom. After the whole silent-peeing business was done, Emma tried to pull up her jeans with difficulty and she quickly lost patience. "Ok, I'm so over doing everything one-handed. I can't get them up!"

Regina tsk'd in irritation and used her free hand to pull on the opposite belt loop. "What are you, five?"

"Why are you complaining. You put me in these clothes!"

"Well dear, perhaps if you bought jeans in your size instead of Henry's we wouldn't be having this problem," said Regina, with her eyes down and trying not focus on Emma's underwear only half covered by denim.

After a struggle the jeans were on and Regina's fingers slipped out of the belt loop to accidentally graze Emma's hip bone. Entranced momentarily by the inch of milky smooth skin exposed by the top that had ridden up, the brunette snatched her right hand away quickly. When she looked up Emma was staring at her knowingly and she realised she been caught.

"Like?" Emma raised an eyebrow.

Regina met the piercing green gaze with impressive stoicism, a cool mask slid over her face hiding the rising heat. Their staring contest was only broken by the chattering of the walkie-talkie coming from the bedroom where Emma had left it yesterday.

_"Are you there, Mom? Come in, over..."_


	5. I miss you

" _Mama bear, what's your twenty? Emma, are you listening? Over..."_

"It's Henry," said Emma unnecessarily to the woman beside her. They both eyed the walkie-talkie sitting on the bedside table where it continued to chatter.

"What are we going to tell him," asked Regina.

Emma grabbed the walkie and pushed the speak button down. "Go ahead, Ankle Biter. What's up?"

" _Emma, are you better yet?"_ asked Henry, since he could hear that her voice still sounded nasal over the static of the walkie.

"Uh, not yet, kid. But getting there."

" _When are you coming home?"_

"As soon as I can, kid, I promise. It's only been a day, Henry." Emma chuckled.

" _I miss you."_

Emma hesitated to glance at Regina who was listening to the two-sided conversation stiffly. "I miss you too, kid. Listen, it's getting late. Your mom's here, do you want to say hi?"

There was a pause on the other end. " _Hi Mom."_

Acutely aware of Emma's presence and the fact that her son had barely spoken to her in ages, Regina couldn't think of what to say so she settled for a fall-back motherly question. "Hi Henry... I hope you are being good for Miss Blanchard."

" _Yeeees. She says I'm better behaved than Emma."_

"I'm sure that's true." Regina smiled to herself.

" _Okay, I gotta go. We're having ice-cream."_

"Alright, kid, I guess duty calls," laughed Emma. "Good night."

"Brush your teeth, Henry," reminded Regina quickly.

A sigh came over the walkie. " _Yes Mom. Night."_

* * *

"This is a disaster, David!"

"Mar, it's going to be alright."

"No-it-is-not," insisted Mary Margaret. She scooped out balls of ice-cream and dumped them into the three bowls.

David sighed inwardly and let his arms fall onto the kitchen bench. There would be no convincing his wife otherwise when she was on a roll like this.

Mary Margaret glanced at the bedroom where she knew Henry was playing and then lowered her voice to a hissed whisper. "What am I supposed to think... Regina tried to kill Emma a few weeks ago even though all this time she's been in love with her?"

"Love?" said David incredulously. "When did she say that? Emma said it was one-sided."

"There's no such thing as one-sided Love Flu!" whispered Mary Margaret fiercely.

"Ah, so..." David moved his hand in an 'and-so-on' kind of way.

"Yes! Regina is in love with my baby girl." Mary Margaret covered her mouth with her hands like she'd just blurted out a secret.

David thought that was going a bit too far, maybe it wasn't quite as bad as that. He tried to be the voice of reason.

"Look, just because two people may share … an attraction for each other, doesn't mean they'll necessarily act on it."

Mary Margaret gave him a look. "I've chaperoned enough high school proms to know better, David."

"They're not teenagers," David pointed out, trying to be helpful. "Emma's a grown woman... I'm sure she knows what she's doing."

Mary Margaret set her jaw and started pouring chocolate sauce all over the ice-cream sundaes. Apparently she wasn't satisfied with trusting Emma to deal with Regina on her own. It made David suspicious again.

"Are you ever going to tell me about how you got Love Flu?" said David.

"No," said Mary Margaret simply, before calling towards the bedroom. "Henry, ice-cream!"

* * *

"I have no idea what I'm doing," said Emma.

"Miss Swan, just put it in."

"Gimme a break, it's not like I've ever done this before."

"Well, that much is obvious," said Regina loftily.

Emma growled in frustration. "Why are we even making this? I'm hungry _now_. It's going to take ages."

"For god's sake, you're worse than Henry. Fresh pasta cooks in minutes," said Regina. She took the bowl from Emma and let the freshly hand-made ravioli pieces topple into the pot of boiling water.

"Oh," said Emma, a bit sheepishly. "Well, I still don't see why we're cooking this fancy stuff when we could already be eating. What kind of person doesn't have a frozen pizza in the house? You've got a ten-year-old."

"Henry doesn't eat it and I certainly don't," sniffed Regina.

"Uh huh, sure." Emma grinned, thinking of Henry's secret Froot Loops stash. She watched the boiling water roil and started poking the pasta with a spoon.

"Can you cook anything, Miss Swan?" asked Regina disdainfully.

"Tacos. Mac 'n' cheese. Grilled cheese..." Emma listed her repertoire.

"Anything that doesn't involve cheese? Or a heart attack?"

"Aw how sweet. You're worried about my heart."

Emma's heart was the last thing she was worried about, thought Regina to herself. She stirred the chopped herbs fresh from her garden into the sauce and the aroma hit the air immediately.

"God that smells good," breathed Emma. Her empty stomach growled at the promise of the tasty food.

"Where'd you learn to cook anyways? I mean, it's not like they had ravioli in Fairytale Land... and I guess you wouldn't have done stuff like cooking yourself," said Emma, referring to Regina's status as a Queen.

"Ha, I bet that's why you're annoyed I can't cook... cos you had to learn from scratch and when you got to the real world you wouldn't have even known what a ravioli was."

Regina tried to ignore the close-to-the-truth jibes and grabbed the pot of boiling water off the stove with her right hand and moved to the sink to drain the pasta into the strainer.

"You're gonna make someone a good wife someday," joked Emma, but the laugh fell off her face when Regina hissed and jerked her free hand out of the burning steam.

"Are you okay?"

Regina turned to the woman at her side and pierced Emma with an ice-cold stare. "Don't ever say that again."

Dinner was fairly strained after that.

* * *

Henry waited until he heard Mary Margaret and David go to bed. He stood against the door to his room peeking through the gap. Once he heard their door shut and saw that all the lights were off he grabbed his backpack and started shoving things into it starting with candy bars, a flashlight, and of course... the book.

Although he'd read it many times before, he'd sat up tonight under the covers with a flashlight going over it again to make sure he hadn't missed anything. He flicked through every page that had a picture and re-read every story where there was even a mention of the Evil Queen.

The book had left stuff out he'd decided, shutting the cover with a slap.

He pulled his coat on over his pyjamas and shoved his feet into sneakers. Like a thief he snuck out of the darkened apartment building and hit the pavement at a run.

He only hoped he wasn't too late.

* * *

Emma and Regina were already in bed but not asleep. Emma was fidgeting around trying to get comfortable and Regina was trying to ignore it. The brunette was nearing the end of her patience and was just about to yell at Emma to stay still when a strange noise came from downstairs. It sounded like someone was moving around but trying not to attract attention.

"Did you hear that?" whispered Emma, instantly alert to the possibility of intruders.

"It's just-" started Regina.

"Where's my gun." Emma rolled across the bed as far as their joined hands allowed to reach for the pile of her stuff and clothes still on the floor where she'd dropped them but her weapon wasn't there.

"Emma, no!" Regina pulled on her hand. "It's Henry."

Emma let out a short-lived sigh of relief but an uneasy feeling soon came over her though as she realised that without her right hand she and the gun would be useless at defending against an attack anyway. Regina must've recognised the sound of her son foraging around the house but Henry's being there wasn't a comforting thought either.

"Oh god," said Emma, turning back to face her. "What is he doing here? It's the middle of the night."

"He's supposed to be at your mother's," hissed Regina, wondering if letting her son wander all over town was a genetic failing.

"We can't let him see us like this!" Emma held up their joined hands.

"What are we going to tell him," asked Regina quietly.

"Nothing! We'll just send him to bed."

Regina let out a small laugh at Emma's parenting naivety. "If you think that will work."

The door burst open to Regina's bedroom and Henry's shadowy form stood in the doorway backed by the light from the hall. "Mom, what've you done with Emma!"

Emma instantly realised that her hasty plan of keeping it a secret from the boy wasn't going to work again. "Henry, I'm here."

"What has she done to you," said Henry, coming into the dim room to stand with crossed arms at the bottom of the bed.

"Henry, nothing," sighed Emma. "We're sick-"

"Why are you taking care of her? She's the Evil Queen. She probably put a spell on you to make you do it."

"Henry, it's not like that..." started Emma.

"She doesn't care about you," Henry insisted stubbornly. "She doesn't care about anyone but herself."

"Henry! Listen kid, I'll explain if you just let me. Um, there's this love spell thing-"

"See! I told you," Henry interrupted angrily.

Emma growled in frustration. "Regina, a little help here?"

"Henry, you can't run away in the middle of the night... it's not safe," pleaded Regina.

"You're the worst thing in this town and you already tried to poison me. I'm not afraid of you anymore," Henry's voice cracked to contradict him. "And I'm going to get Emma back."

Henry stomped out of Regina's bedroom and a few seconds later they heard his own bedroom door slam shut. At least, the kid intended to stay the night.

Emma grabbed her phone and scrolled through her few contacts before tapping to make the call. After a few rings a sleepy voice answered.

" _Emma?..."_

"Mary Margaret. Don't freak out okay, but Henry's here."

" _No, he's supposed to be here..."_ Her mother's voice sounded confused over the phone.

Emma sighed. "Yeah I know, he came over to Regina's by himself. I just wanted to let you know so you didn't find him missing in the morning."

After they both lamented the boy's running away a bit more, Emma hung up the phone and threw it onto the bedside table.

"Regina-" started Emma.

"Go to sleep, Miss Swan," said Regina, lying on her right side with her back to Emma. Her left arm was bent behind her at an awkward angle to accommodate their joined hands.

Emma thought back to all the times last year when Henry would get around town by himself and his alarming habit for running away into the woods. It had worked in her favour when she and her son had been sneaking around behind Regina's back to meet up in secret. But now that she was supposedly more responsible, she realised how worrying it was to be on the other side of that behaviour. The sight of Regina's tightly clenched jaw confirmed that this definitely wasn't the first time for the brunette however. Had she been aware of all the times Henry had disappeared on her?

Emma couldn't sleep but she kept dead still, fighting against the temptation to fidget. She lay there for a long time, tired but waiting for sleep to come, too busy thinking and worrying about Henry. The sound was so soft she almost didn't hear it at first. But then she realised sadly that the woman next to her had been unhappily married for years and was probably well-used to keeping quiet.

Regina was crying in her sleep.


	6. I want you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks for the kudos and comments, I really appreciate them. I hope you are enjoying this story :).

Emma felt a hand trail down her bare torso causing her to shiver. She felt a soft kiss pressed on her stomach near her belly button before the lips moved higher where her pyjama top had ridden up. The heat of a slight body pressed against her hips and she turned her head to the side to hide a groan.

Opening her eyes in the dim light, Emma saw the woman above her smile revealing a row of perfect white teeth. She lowered her head to assault Emma's neck, nipping along the way.

"Regina," breathed Emma. "What are you doing?"

She felt a smile against her neck and then a hot whisper seductively close to her ear. "I'm going to need both hands for this..."

The brunette laced their fingers together and held one of Emma's hands above her head. Emma's eyes slipped closed again as Regina's other hand moved lower between their hips. Her sighed moan was cut short and her mouth was covered by a searingly deep kiss when...

" _Emma. EMMA!"_

"Whuh- argh!" Emma came awake for real and almost jumped off the bed in fright, reminding her of that horror movie where the mother was in the room the whole time.

"Emma, wake up." Regina sat next her in the bed, trying to untwist the covers caught wildly between them.

"Regina! What are you doing?" said Emma, embarrassed and defensive all at once. Instinctively she tried to pull the sheet to cover herself even though she was still fully dressed in the flannel pyjamas Regina had conjured for her the night before.

"Are you feeling sick? You were moaning in your sleep," Regina informed her, almost looking concerned.

Emma let her head fall back to the pillow, wondering how her life had gotten so... utterly unfair. She rubbed her left fist into her eye, fighting the frustration and tiredness that remained.

Not two minutes later, a pyjama-clad boy appeared in the doorway and announced it was breakfast time.

* * *

There was no hiding their hands from the kid any longer. They'd sat him down at the kitchen bench to explain the Love Flu thing to him and he'd listened with a skeptical look on his face, remaining unconvinced that Regina had nothing to do with Emma's incarceration. They hadn't told him the details he didn't need to know, merely saying that it was a magical illness of unknown nature and they were stuck together for a little while. It'd been Emma's idea to shelter him from the truth given that she'd barely been able to look Regina in the eye since being woken the way she had.

Emma hadn't forgotten hearing Regina crying the night before either. The relationship between mother and son had been in a bad state for a while and Henry had been cruel to Regina... but she didn't know how to bring it up with either of the stubborn Millses. Those two, Emma thought ruefully, they're as bad as each other when they're hurting. She had a feeling getting to the heart of the matter was going to be a fight so Emma decided to let them both have their secrets. For now.

"Hey, kid, maybe you should have toast today," suggested Emma, seeing him reach for the box containing his contraband sugary cereal.

"No. I want this," said Henry, pouring Froot Loops into a bowl.

"Henry." Regina remonstrated him for talking back and he was immediately cowed.

How was it that mothers could do that just by saying your name, thought Emma. She remembered some of the things she'd done as a teen and wondered how much of a whip Mary Margaret could crack when she got going. Emma was new at this parenting thing and she knew that the kid was going through a lot lately... but Henry's attitude towards the mother who'd raised him for ten years was starting to worry her. It wasn't like him at all.

"You can't ground me anymore," said Henry, lifting his chin at Regina defiantly.

"I can," Emma pointed out, hoping that the kid would get the hint that she'd back Regina up on this.

Henry laughed like she'd told a joke. "Good one, Emma."

Even Regina shook her head and muttered something about inmates running the asylum, meaning that it would be like leaving the least qualified, most incompetent person in charge. Emma and Henry would only egg each other on when it came to causing trouble not preventing it.

Emma's phone started ringing with a sensibly boring ringtone indicating that the call was being directed from the Sheriff's station.

"Sheriff Swan."

" _Emma, you have to get down here quick. There's been an accident."_

* * *

Emma parked the Bug around the corner from where David had told her. From that vantage point they could see the two-car smash at the intersection of Main and Second street which was already gathering a crowd of bystanders, onlookers, and gawkers. Paramedics and fire crews were already at the scene and she could see David, wearing the deputy badge, interviewing what appeared to be one of the drivers holding a bandage to his head.

Emma exchanged a look with Regina who was seated on her right in the passenger seat remembering the bit of fuss that'd gotten them there.

" _I'm driving," announced Emma._

" _I am not getting into that junkyard you call a car," said Regina._

" _Don't insult the noble steed! Besides, I have to drive. I'm the left twin."_

" _What?"_

" _We're kinda like conjoined twins and I'm on the left. I''d have sit in your lap if you want to drive your car... so yeah, I'm driving and we're taking the Bug."_

But it hadn't been as easy as it sounded because of her beloved Bug's reluctant steering. Using only her left hand she hadn't been strong enough to turn the wheel fully when backing out of the driveaway. Regina had rolled her eyes and reached over to help with her free hand. Then there was changing gears, which also fell to Regina despite having never driven a stick shift before, or indeed, any car except her Mercedes.

It made Emma wonder why they didn't just magically transport to the scene. But now, she realised, that with the crowd of people around it was risky and if someone saw Regina doing magic it could be bad for them both.

"David? David, are you there?" Emma said into the walkie.

" _Emma, where are you?"_ David looked around the street trying to spot her and holding the police radio to his chin.

"In my Bug around the corner. Regina's with me. Duh." Emma said the last part to herself.

" _You guys better stay hidden,"_ warned David.

"Ok. Can you handle documenting the crash? What happened?"

" _I'll send Mary Margaret over to find you and explain..."_

"Explain what? Isn't it just a car crash?" said Emma. Her stomach turned to dread at David's answer though she wasn't certain why.

" _We think Love Flu is spreading."_

* * *

"This is a public health issue. You have no right to keep the truth from these people."

Cheers for Dr Whale's speech sounded from the crowd and David held his arms out in what he hoped was a pacifying gesture. Somehow he suspected that Whale wouldn't be as easily convinced as the general public.

"Everything is under control. You're not in any danger..." promised David loud enough for everyone to hear.

Whale squinted out of exaggerated concern. "No danger? Mrs Montague has a large gash on her forehead. It's going to need stitches."

David growled. "Whale."

"We need to go after the person responsible for this. For bringing magic to Storybrooke!" said Whale, grandstanding for the crowd.

"Yeah!" some jerk called from a hidden spot. "We should do that!"

Alarmed that the guy was intentionally inciting a riot, David wracked his brain for a way to defuse the situation before it started. "Okay, everybody clear out! Let the fire crews do their jobs please."

David pulled the town doctor aside as the crowd dispersed. "What do you know about this, Whale?"

Whale answered the question with one of his own, confirming David's suspicion that the doctor knew the nature of the contagion. "Where's the Sheriff?"

"She can't be here right now. I'm acting as Deputy."

"You don't even know what you're dealing with," sneered Dr Whale.

"That's why I need your help," said David, knowing that all it took sometimes to get someone on your side was to ask them to help you. "We need you to document the spread of this thing. Can you do that?"

"I can't find a cure if that's what you're hoping," said Whale bitterly.

"No, we just need you..." (out of the way, thought David to himself) "to find out how all of this started."

Whale nodded like it was his idea. "I'll investigate the trajectory of the contagion and try to trace it back to the vector - patient zero. The one who started it all."

David clapped his hand on the man's shoulder. "Good man. Let me know what you find."

"It may not do any good," said Whale. "Magic only claims to know three things that science cannot fully explain and they are powerful forces indeed. In my world I have investigated two of them and I have been entirely unsuccessful in curing either… life and death."

"You said there were three powerful forces. What's the other one," asked David.

Whale walked away, his white coat flapping in the wind and answered over his shoulder.

"The third one is love."

* * *

Mary Margaret slid into the back seat of the Bug and the two women in the front seats turned around to look at her expectantly. The pixie-haired brunette's eyes fell on the joined hands hanging between them for a second. It merely seemed like they were a couple casually holding hands if you didn't know any better.

"Sooo what's going on?" prompted Emma to get her mother's attention.

"Oh, right," said Mary Margaret, snapping out of it. "Um, the car accident...well, it was caused by Love Flu."

"How is that possible?" asked Regina.

"Mr Montague was driving with his wife in the blue car. He didn't see the other car coming."

"Yes, and?" said Regina impatiently.

"They were on their way to the hospital. They told David their hands have been stuck together since this morning."

Emma sighed heavily. "It's spreading. What are we going to do about this?"

"You two? Nothing," said Mary Margaret firmly. "You are both to stay out of sight. Dr Whale's already been here trying to find out who's caused this. He's looking for you, Emma, but David thinks he suspects Regina."

"I'm merely a victim of this plague, not a carrier," snapped Regina, looking out the windscreen again at the crash.

At first Emma had thought this Love Flu thing was a bit of a joke, uncomfortable and awkward as it was to be stuck to Regina 24/7. But now it seemed that it wasn't quite so benign as she'd thought. The particular crash in front of them hadn't been very serious but what other havoc could the illness be responsible for before dying out naturally?

Love triangles, clandestine affairs, and secret attractions... the Love Flu epidemic had the power to reveal them all. Emma wondered how many of Storybrooke's relationships would survive the fallout.

"Oh, yeah, that's not the only thing," said Mary Margaret with a cringe.

"What is it?" said Emma warily. Like they needed any more bad news.

"Well, David had to stop Whale from starting a riot somehow so he gave him the job of tracking the people who have been infected."

At Emma's horrified groan of complaint Mary Margaret continued. "It might actually be useful. People are sick and he is a doctor."

Regina whirled around with an incredulous glare. "That charlatan got his medical degree from a curse. Don't you know who he is?"

The mother and daughter listened with blank faces.

Regina gave her former enemy a hard stare. "That man is not to come anywhere near me. If you see him, Miss Blanchard, you can give him a message."

"What message," squeaked Mary Margaret.

"Tell him that the hearts in this town belong to me. All of them."


	7. I'll help you

Emma drove extra carefully back to Regina's house.

They'd waited around in the Bug until the accident was nearly all cleared away and the townspeople had gotten bored of the spectacle and returned to their respective lives. Mr and Mrs Montague were taken to the hospital for treatment along with the driver of the other car. Mary Margaret kept running back and forth between the Bug and David's cruiser to get updates.

Five couples were reported as infected so far and it was only the start of the third day. At this rate, half of Storybrooke could be infected before the month was out. The 'family business' Sheriff station was still waiting on the names and details of the infected couples but word was starting to spread even faster than the contagion and panic was setting in.

Tom's shop had been raided for supplies. Anyone holding hands in public was immediately stopped for questioning by the vigilante police who'd banded together under Whale. Being an Infected was quickly becoming a stigma and people were afraid just of being diagnosed despite the fact that Love Flu wasn't even that bad in and of itself.

Emma realised that nobody wanted to catch it because nobody wanted to be caught. Cheating spouses, teenagers with boyfriends/girlfriends their parents didn't know about, and people who weren't out thought themselves especially at risk. The town's secrets were under attack.

"So what really happened with Mary Margaret?" asked Emma, turning off the engine after parking in the driveway to Regina's house.

"You don't want to know," said Regina.

"Yes I freaking do!"

Regina's jaw tightened. "I will only say that between me and Snow White only one of us can keep a secret."

Regina got out of the car and pulled Emma's hand so she could climb across both seats and out the passenger door. She took the keys out of her pocket and let them both in the front door to 108 Mifflin Street. Emma walked them straight into the kitchen and started pulling out ingredients for peanut-butter-jelly sandwiches.

"So how do you know Dr Whale? Who IS he anyways?" said Emma, holding the jar of jelly out so Regina could twist off the lid. She then did the same with the peanut butter and then got Regina to hold the bread still on the plate.

"He's Doctor Frankenstein. You may have read his book."

Emma clumsily spread the ingredients onto the bread and then licked the knife. "Skipped the book. Watched the movie."

"I'm shocked," said Regina. She frowned slightly at Emma sticking the knife into her mouth.

"So how do you know him?" Emma persisted with her line of questioning though seemingly getting nowhere. "Why do you think he wants hearts? Isn't that your gig?"

"I'm not telling you that either."

Emma made a noise of frustration. "Argh! Okay I'll make you a deal. You have to tell me one of your secrets and I'll stop bugging you about the others. For a while anyways."

"No deal." Regina said easily, not even tempted.

"Then I'll keep bugging you."

"Then I'll put you in the Cone of Silence."

"But-" Emma's face fell into a pout and she muttered, "Dammit."

She looked so adorable pouting that a smile broke over Regina's face before she could help it and the brunette wasn't quick enough in hiding it.

"A-HA!" Emma crowed victoriously like she'd planned it all along. "I got you!"

"You got nothing," said Regina loftily.

"Yep," said Emma smugly, taking a huge bite of her sandwich. "I got a smile out of you and you can't take it back."

* * *

"You need a bath," announced Regina in the bathroom, since they'd gone straight to the crash scene after breakfast.

Emma whined, "Not another cold shower?"

"No." Regina repeated her words from last time. "Close your eyes."

"Yup, closed." Emma grinned at the lie. But it didn't matter because when the purple smoke cleared both women were wearing swimsuits. Emma cursed inwardly out of disappointment but her eyes raked over Regina's form anyway.

"Hey, why do you get to wear that and I have to wear _this_?"grumbled Emma.

Regina wore a plain black one-piece that still managed to suit her every curve perfectly. Emma on the other hand had a red halter top and hipster boyleg bottoms. She felt like Regina was going to a swim meet whereas she was going to a swimsuit modelling competition. Totally unfair.

Emma held out their joined hands so Regina wouldn't slip stepping in to the bath and then climbed in herself, far less gracefully. It took a bit of fidgeting to find where to sit given that they had to keep each other within arm's length in the large-but-not-that-large triangular bath set into the wall. Regina sat in one corner and Emma sat not quite opposite but not quite next to her. The blonde propped her feet up on the opposite side and allowed Regina's legs to lay across hers.

"I need something to play with," said Emma.

"Do you want Henry's old bath toys?" Regina joked but Emma's face lit up.

"Yes! Hey, what was that for?"

Regina flicked water off the surface spraying into Emma's eyes. When the blonde blinked the water away a collection of brightly coloured plastic and foam toys bobbed on the surface of the bathwater. Emma took the squishy balls and started a game of throwing them against the wall tiles with a splat and collecting them again as they fell back into the water.

Regina soaked quietly content in the warmth of the bath watching Emma absentmindedly until the blonde announced she was bored of the game.

"There must be something else I can play with," said Emma with a rakish glance at the woman beside her.

The bath toys disappeared so Emma placed her left hand on Regina's calves laying across her middle and ran her hand up and down the smooth leg, massaging as high as she dared.

"Feels nice," murmured Regina, letting her eyes close. She didn't want to tell Emma to stop.

After a while she heard the blonde ask, "How's your chest feel?"

"What," Regina croaked, instantly awake.

"I said, I haven't heard you cough in a while. The flu symptoms must be easing. Is your chest feeling better?"

"Yes, how does yours feel."

"Soft and firm," Emma raised an eyebrow, deliberating misinterpreting the question.

Regina leaned forward and for a second Emma thought the other woman was going to call her bluff on the innuendo and make a move on her. She knew of the Evil Queen's reputation for being a seductress and for using her appeal to manipulate people into doing her bidding... and no wonder she was so damn successful at it, how could anyone refuse? She knew she wouldn't if Regina ever showed any interest... but she never did.

Regina's poker face made it impossible to tell but Emma sometimes caught the way the other woman looked at her and wondered if she was the only one feeling the attraction between them. But no, her mind reminded her, Regina had made it very clear that it was all on Emma's side and being stuck to her was an annoyance.

The front door opened downstairs and Henry voice sounded out calling for them. What was he doing home so early? They quickly got out of the bath making a mess of water everywhere. In seconds, Regina had them magically dry and dressed but Emma's hair was still a riotous tangle of curls.

Apparently there was only so much magic could do.

* * *

Downstairs both their jaws dropped at seeing Henry's state having walked all the way from school. He was covered in dirt with a bruise forming on his cheek and his school uniform shirt was ripped. He handed Emma a slip of white paper and said, "Principal wants to talk to you. I got in a fight."

"What?" said Emma, gaping in disbelief. "What were you fighting about?"

"Nothing," said Henry evasively.

Emma knew that no-one ever fought about nothing and she wanted to get to the bottom of why her son had gotten into trouble all of a sudden. Sure he was occasionally a truant, a credit card thief, and a runaway... but he was a good kid. She read the slip of paper but it didn't have many details.

"Did the other boy start it?"

"No. I threw the first punch," Henry raised his chin in a proudly defiant way. "Right hook. Just like you taught me, Emma."

"Good. I mean..." Emma felt rather than saw the piercing glare coming from Regina. "Uh, violence isn't the answer."

"Maybe it depends on the question," said Henry stubbornly, sounding a bit like someone else.

"Ok, go upstairs and clean up, kid," said Emma, realising that was all they were gonna get out of him.

When he ran upstairs, Regina swiftly pulled out her phone, tapped to call the contact she was after and put it on speaker phone. The two women sat down at the dining table, setting the phone on the surface in front of them.

" _Hi Regina?"_ a woman's voice answered.

"Miss Blanchard, a few minutes of your time," said Regina, making it sound nothing like a request.

" _Is Emma there?"_

"Yes, of course. Where else would she be," said Regina impatiently at the inane question.

"What happened with Henry at school today, Mary Margaret? Do you know?" asked Emma.

A sigh came over the phone. " _I only know that he got into a fight with another boy."_

"Did he start it?"

" _Yes. I was on playground duty. I saw it happen across the quad."_

"What caused it?"

" _We're not sure since all of the children who were there have clammed up … but I believe it was a slur about him having two moms."_

Emma let her head drop onto her arm on the table with a thud. "Right. Thanks for telling us."

Mary Margaret's voice sounded uncertain as she said, " _If it helps, he was defending you guys."_

"It doesn't," Regina snapped and hung up.

They sat in awkward silence staring at the table surface until Henry came back downstairs holding his school books.

"I need some help with my homework," said the sheepish boy.

"Sure," Emma said. "Bring it over. What've you got?"

"Science. Maths. English," said Henry with half a grimace.

"I can help with exactly none of those," said Emma wryly and chanced a look at Regina. "Over to you, Mom."

Henry sat down at Regina's side and the two of them started to work through the exercises while Emma watched. Regina explained things patiently, letting Henry come to the answers himself wherever possible. Emma was puzzled how she even knew all this stuff. There was no way Regina had ever been to school and unlike the other townspeople she hadn't come to Storybrooke preloaded with knowledge supplied by the curse. Emma realised in amazement that Regina must've learned it for the sole purpose of helping her son.

After homework time Henry went off to his room leaving the two women alone once more.

"What're we gonna do about this fighting thing," asked Emma. She crooked her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand.

"There's nothing to do except protect Henry. Once it comes out about us..." Regina trailed off, implying that the children would have far more ammunition to use. Not to mention their parents.

"Kids suck," decided Emma.

"This boy must be very foolish to pick a fight with my son," said Regina seriously.

"Okaaay, you're a little scary when you make that face, you know that right? But yeah, what stupid kid picks on the son of the Sheriff and the" (Evil Queen, whispered Emma's brain) "...Mayor."

"Indeed. I have killed for less," said Regina darkly, apparently knowing what Emma hadn't said.

Emma wasn't entirely sure if she was being serious or just exaggerating her own badassery for effect.

"Er, now you're really scaring me. Don't worry, Henry will be fine."

But Emma's vague optimism was hardly reassuring to Regina. She suspected that her son, who already had no friends his own age, was being taunted relentlessly by his peers simply for being the son of the evil witch who'd created the curse. And now this thing with Emma was affecting him too... whatever was between them could never happen for many reasons.

"Regina?" Emma interrupted hesitantly. "Why haven't you made Henry apologise?"

Regina hardly heard the question. All she could think of was Emma screaming at her and a little boy lying pale and still as death in a hospital bed. She'd intended to kill one and almost succeeded in killing the other for the sake of protecting the curse and the Storybrooke life she'd created. It hardly seemed fair to chastise her son for anything anymore. Sometimes when life gets difficult we treat the ones we love the worst of all.

Emma and Henry were both off-limits to her now.


	8. Safe with you

Mary Margaret and David turned up under the cover of evening darkness. Regina and Emma led them to the formal sitting room while Henry was upstairs playing in his room.

"How are you coping under house arrest?" David asked the two sick women. He started spreading out the files and paperwork on the coffee table that stood between the two lounges.

"Do you need me to pick up some groceries from the store?" offered Mary Margaret.

Regina took up a sheet and started writing a list. When she went to hand it to Mary Margaret Emma intercepted it, saying "I need to add some things". Emma scanned the list Regina had written and crossed out some of the items (what the hell is quinoa?) and replaced them with her own choices in her barely legible left-handwriting. She gave the edited list over to her mother.

"This is what we know so far..." started David. "Five couples are confirmed infected. Four of them - obviously excluding you two - have been examined at the hospital by Dr Whale. They've been discharged but told to stay at home quarantined until he can question them further."

"Who are the infected? Any connection between them, any similarities?" asked Emma.

"There doesn't seem to be," said David, shaking his head. "That's what I'm hoping you can help me with, Emma."

Emma flipped through the patient files one at a time and started summarising the information to herself.

"Okay. Some are married and some aren't... Different ages... Three couples were already together before becoming infected and two weren't, including me and Regina... Four opposite-sex pairings, one same-sex... All the addresses are in different parts of Storybrooke... No common workplaces..."

Emma sighed and looked up at the others who seemed to be waiting hopefully for the answer. "These people have nothing in common. Do any of them know each other?"

Mary Margaret exchanged a look with David before asking Emma, "Do _you_ know any of them, Emma?"

"No, why would I?" Emma shrugged.

David gave her an apologetic face at what he was about to say. "You were the first person that we know was infected."

"You think I started this?" realised Emma and she was slightly offended but not sure why.

"Emma, I'm sorry, but it makes sense," said Mary Margaret gently. "You two were the first to get stuck together and you were sick before Regina. It has to be someone out of these five couples that started it."

"No it doesn't," said Regina, finally joining the discussion. "If a person becomes infected they infect their lover, yes. But Love Flu mustn't be passed between people by air like a regular cold or flu. Otherwise you two idiots would've caught it from us already by always coming over here."

"So how is it transmitted then?" wondered Emma. "More people are becoming infected so it has to be spreading somehow."

David agreed. "Dr Whale is convinced it was originally spread by someone he's calling Patient Zero. Whether it's deliberate or accidental we need to find this person."

"Patient Zero may not even be infected," Regina told them.

"Are you kidding me?" said Emma, letting her chin drop at how complicated this was getting. "How is that possible?"

Mary Margaret nodded at what Regina was getting at. "Typhoid Mary had Typhoid but she wasn't sick. Patient Zero may only be a carrier for Love Flu."

"So the quarantining is useless," concluded Emma.

David's phone started to ring and he stepped outside in the hall to take the call.

* * *

"Belle, come away from the window."

The pretty auburn-haired girl turned away with a sly smile. "Why?"

Gold went over to shut the curtains after taking a peek at the darkened street below his stately manor. "No-one can know about you."

Belle let out a confused giggle at his manner. "Why, Rumpel? Why are we hiding away locked up in your house?"

"The town is under threat."

Belle frowned and smiled at the same time, the dimples in her cheeks showing. "I don't understand. I thought things were better now that the curse was broken. Everyone has their memories back and they've been reunited with the ones they love."

"Love isn't safe anymore," said Gold ironically, flicking his wrist in a 'there you have it' gesture.

"I know you will protect me. I'm safe with you," said Belle sweetly. She left to go prepare tea.

"You're not safe, Belle," murmured Gold to himself, remembering everything he'd ever learned about Love Flu back in the other land. Paradoxically the disease preferred not to go after the weak and cowardly like him. Only strong hearts were at risk.

* * *

The three women sat in silence, mulling over the information they had so far. Emma in particular, stared into space out of concentration, trying to piece together what she knew about this tangled mess. The threads of Storybrooke were coming undone and as the Sheriff, she was feeling rather useless since being forced into hiding. Sitting around waiting was not her style, she was more of an action kind of girl and it frustrated the hell out of her to not be able to do anything.

Emma didn't realise she was holding on so tightly, but Regina did and smoothed her thumb across the back of Emma's hand.

David came back in, shoving his phone back into his jeans pocket. "More bad news I'm afraid."

"What now?" moaned Emma.

David scrubbed his face tiredly. "Reports of domestic disturbances, more looting, and the adult shop was rolled by some teenagers caught on CCTV."

A disturbing thought occurred to Emma at the mention of the teenagers. "Can children get Love Flu?"

"It's exceedingly rare," said Regina, tensing up at having to explain. "The child normally doesn't realise … back in our land adults have been known to be killed over it. Lives have been ruined."

The door to the subject was slammed shut when Henry wandered in, which was lucky because Mary Margaret looked physically sick. Apparently the boy had come down to see the visitors and he took a seat on the lounge next to Regina.

"What's going on?" said Henry, looking around at the adults since they'd immediately stopped talking.

"Nothing, kid. Whatcha been up to?" said Emma, trying to change the subject.

"Eavesdropping."

You could've heard a pin drop in the room.

The adults simultaneously shared their commiseration without words over the boy's precocity, realising that he'd heard the entire conversation and knew everything that was going on.

"Why didn't you just tell me the truth," asked Henry. The question could've been for either of his mothers but he was looking at Regina.

"I didn't think you would want to hear anything from me." Regina brushed his cheek lightly with her right hand.

"You should've told me," insisted Henry, looking down at his feet.

"Henry," said Emma seriously, leaning over to get his attention. "Dr Whale is looking for us but we don't know why so you can't tell anyone about your Mom and me ok?"

"Yeah, I get it," said Henry sadly. "More secrets."

"I promise we'll figure this out, buddy," said David. "It's going to be ok."

Henry bit his lips as though he wanted to disagree and looked at the joined hands of his mothers for a long while before speaking up. "There's a boy in my class. His parents are getting divorced."

"Who's the boy?" asked Mary Margaret. She didn't know of any kids in her class having trouble at home.

"Timothy Montague."

None of them thought the surname was a coincidence.

* * *

Emma awoke in the middle of the night to hear Regina crying in her sleep again. This time was much worse however and it scared her. Desperate sobs wracked the brunette's form as she lay on her side facing away from her. Emma spooned herself behind the other woman's back and straight away Regina pulled their joined hands to her heart and held them close.

"Regina. Regina. Wake up." Emma called softly.

"Emma," gasped Regina.

"I'm here," Emma whispered into Regina's hair and pressed a kiss to her shoulder.

Regina was still half-asleep and unable to stop her panicky breathing. "They're gone."

"Shh it's okay. It's going to be okay," soothed Emma, but she didn't quite believe it herself.

Holding her close, she wondered what would make Regina cry like that. Emma had heard sketchy details of her tortured past and knew there were plenty of demons there to haunt her... but was _this_ really the Evil Queen - malicious and cruel? The Mayor - inaccessible and unyielding? The woman in her arms was neither of those former selves right now. That kind of pain could only come from deep regret and loss. But what had Regina thought she'd lost, Emma wondered. Was the pain old - or new?

Emma half expected that she would push her away and try to pretend nothing was wrong. But for once Regina allowed herself to be held, either unwilling or unable to bear giving up the comfort of it. They stayed like that for a long time until the sounds died away and both drifted back to sleep.

* * *

At 6am the next morning, Henry rose and quickly got dressed. Before sneaking out of the house he dropped a note to his mothers on the table saying he was going to school early that day.

Everyone at school was talking about Love Flu. Some of the older kids knew what it was and were spreading wild stories around. As soon as Henry heard about it he knew that was what happened to his Mom and Emma, that it was how they'd gotten their hands stuck together. He didn't understand it though, how could they be in love? They didn't even like each other and they fought all the time.

He remembered back to last night after David and Mary Margaret left, when his Moms had sat him down to explain it.

" _So if you're in love you get Love Flu?" he asked them, still confused._

_Emma shifted awkwardly. This was bordering on The Talk and she was way out of her depth explaining the difference between love and sexual desire to a ten-year-old._

" _Ah kid, it's a different kinda love. I mean, it's kinda hard to explain..."_

" _What's hard about it. Either you're in love or you're not."_

" _Henry, we're not in love with each other," said Regina._

" _But you're together."_

" _No," said Regina._

" _Well, we are stuck together but we're not together together," said Emma._

" _Can you be in love and not know it?" asked Henry._

" _I guess so, kid."_

" _Then how do you know you're not?"_

At the end of Mifflin St, Henry turned in the direction away from his school. He made his way across town to the outskirts heading for a place he knew his Mom used to go every Wednesday. She always went without him and would never tell him why.

Upon reaching the Mills family crypt Henry froze and ducked behind some trees seeing that somebody else was already there. The man looked around checking first to make sure no-one was watching and then disappeared through the vault's doors. Henry waited till the coast was clear and then ran back to town as fast as he could.

Dr Whale had beaten him to it.


	9. I hurt you

When Emma woke up the next morning Regina was practically laying on top of her. The brunette’s head lay on her chest right above her heart with her free arm draped across the other side. Emma gently brushed back a lock of dark hair that had fallen and tucked it behind Regina’s ear. With relief, she noted that Regina appeared to be sleeping peacefully despite her harrowing night. Although seeing her in that much pain had been heartbreaking, Emma was glad that she’d been able to provide the comfort. She wanted to be the one Regina turned to, she realised.

 

And maybe, just maybe, Regina finally wanted her back.

 

“Someone’s awake,” whispered Emma, when the warm body pressed against her side started to move.

 

“Emma,” said Regina sleepily, almost making it sound like a question.

 

“Yeah, I’m still here. Where else would I be?” joked Emma sweetly. “Are you ok? You had a rough night.”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

“I don’t think you are,” said Emma gently. She pressed a kiss to the back of the hand stuck to hers.

 

Regina stiffened in the embrace and drew back, putting some space between them. She could feel Emma watching her with concern. She had to put a stop to this before it started.

 

“It hurts to see you so upset,” Emma told her quietly. “I have feelings for you.”

 

Regina closed her eyes briefly at the confession even though her heart had started to race. “Emma, it’s not real. Love Flu is starting to affect your head.”

 

Emma frowned at the sting of the rejection. “What about you?”

 

“It’s not affecting me,” Regina said, seemingly engrossed by the ceiling.

 

“Right. Of course not.” Emma berated herself for her own stupidity. “It’s just me and my childish infatuation. I won’t bother you again, don’t worry.”

 

* * *

Later that morning there was a knock on the front door to the house. Emma opened the door a crack and saw that it was only Archie.

 

“Hey, Archie. Come on in.”

 

“Emma, what are you doing?” hissed Regina. They weren’t supposed to let anyone know about their disease status.

 

“He obviously already knows, right?” said Emma, raising her eyebrows at Archie with the question.

 

“Yes,” confirmed Archie. “If you mean that I know you’re both infected with Love Flu. However, when I saw you two the other night I merely thought you had put your differences aside and worked out your feelings for one another...”

 

“We don’t have feelings for each other,” interrupted Regina quickly. “What are you doing here, bug?”

 

“Well, I thought that I would offer my professional services. It must be quite a stressful time for your relationship, not to mention confusing for Henry. Perhaps some family counselling is needed?” said Archie.

 

“No,” said Regina flatly.

 

“Maybe not, Archie. But thanks.” Emma tried to soften the blunt refusal.

 

The kindly man nodded in his characteristically humble manner. “Very well. You know where I am if you change your minds. That brings me to the other reason I’m here.”

 

“Which is?” said Regina.

 

“I’m assisting Dr Whale with interviewing the infected couples.”

 

“You told Whale about us.” Emma’s mouth dropped open in horror.

 

Archie was quick to reassure them. “No. David explained it to me and I have to agree. It’s best if no-one knows about you two. But it is important to figure this out so we need to collect your data. Everything will be strictly anonymous and no-one who doesn’t need to know will ever see your answers. I give you my word.”

 

Regina reluctantly led both Emma and Archie into her home office and indicated that they sit.

 

Across from Archie, Emma slouched in the left chair and Regina sat primly in the right chair. They were side-by-side with their joined hands between them on the arm rests but Archie noted that their hands weren’t sitting right in the middle. Regina was holding Emma’s hand closer to her side and apparently Emma either didn’t mind or hadn’t even noticed.

 

“Okay, let’s start.” Archie flipped his clipboard open and began reading through the standard privacy and legal statements at the top.

 

“Love Flu is a disease not only of the body but of the mind so we need to gather some data about you in order to determine if there’s anything that makes you more susceptible than others. You’re free to refuse to answer any question but please keep in mind that we need as much information as possible.”

 

“The first part of the survey is to do with your sexual history. Question One. At what age did you first start having sex?” said Archie, ready to take down their answers with his pencil.

 

“Seventeen.”

 

“Nineteen.”

 

Archie recorded their answers on the survey sheet before continuing. “Question Two. Have you ever been married?”

 

“No.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Archie moved on to the next survey item. “Question Three. When was the last time you had sex?”

 

“It was before I came to Storybrooke,” said Emma, thinking back.

 

Regina hesitated. “Graham.”

 

They breezed through a list of other questions easily with no surprises: How many children do you have, Are you currently in a relationship, Have you ever been in love...

 

“Question Ten,” said Archie, looking up from his sheet. “How many sexual partners have you had?”

 

“Seven. Okay fine, seventeen,” said Emma, changing her answer after a glance at Archie’s face. God, discussing this with him was almost as bad as talking about it with her parents.

 

“Regina?” prompted Archie.

 

“Two.”

 

Emma frowned at Regina in disbelief. “You have to be kidding me.”

 

“I am not lying,” said Regina, eyes flashing angrily.

 

“There’s no way you’ve only had two,” said Emma. “Come on, what’s the big deal? I had to tell mine.”

 

Archie observed Regina’s tense posture and said quietly, “Emma, I’m going to have to ask you not to comment on Regina’s answers please.”

 

The room was far too silent in between questions and all that could be heard was the ticking of the mantle clock. Archie wondered if perhaps they should take a break. He’d noticed that the two women were becoming upset and angry by the questioning but decided that getting it over with might be preferable to trying to convince them to continue later. Regina’s reactions in particular worried him. He recognised her behaviour, having seen it unfortunately too many times in his professional career.

 

“Okay, the second section of the survey is about your Love Flu symptoms. Question One. Please list the symptoms you are currently experiencing with regards to normal flu-like illness in the order they presented if possible.”

 

“Coughing. Sneezing. Stuffy nose. Fainting. Chills.”

 

“Fainting. Fever. Cough. Blocked sinuses. Tiredness.”

 

Archie rolled through the next questions quickly: Are you currently in a relationship with your Love Flu partner? Have you ever had sex with your Love Flu partner? Please circle on the diagram where you and your Love Flu partner are currently joined...

 

“Question Eight. Are you having current symptoms such as sexual thoughts or physical attraction to your Love Flu partner?”

 

“Yes,” Emma admitted with an eye-roll.

 

“Refused.”

 

Archie moved on to the next question without comment. “Question Nine. Have you and your Love Flu partner had sexual contact since becoming infected?”

 

“Not really.”

 

“Refused.”

 

Archie hesitated, checking his survey sheet and noticing that they’d finally arrived at the last question. It was the most important question in the entire survey and he had a feeling the answers were going to be revealing one way or the other.

 

“Question Ten,” said Archie, braced for their reactions. “Are you in love with your Love Flu partner?”

 

“No,” said Emma with a slight shrug.

 

“Refused,” said Regina quietly.

 

“Regina.” Emma finally snapped at the brunette’s reticence. “You can’t lie or refuse to answer half the goddamn survey. Especially since this is such a dumb question. Obviously the answer is No. Archie, write that down.”

 

“Emma, I think you should consider how your accusations are hurting Regina,” said Archie.

 

Emma exhaled humourlessly at his shrink talk. “She’s the one who’s acting like a 15 year old afraid she’s gonna get found out by her mother. It’s an anonymous survey anyways so there’s no reason to lie about having sex like it’s some terrible sordid secret. Seriously, no-one cares. Grow up.”

 

Regina leapt suddenly out of her chair as though she was going to walk away, forgetting that they were still joined until her arm pulled Emma’s straight and stopped her from going further. She swallowed hard, throat burning with tears, realising that she couldn’t get away.

 

“Regina, you can’t just walk away from what you don’t want to deal with,” said Emma, pulling on their joined hands.

 

“Just stop it, Emma!” said Regina, tears pricking her eyes.

 

Regina flicked her right hand and magically encased Emma in the blue bubble she called the Cone of Silence, where she could neither hear nor be heard. At first Emma protested soundlessly but her words died away when she saw how distraught Regina actually was. Since there was nowhere else to go Regina sat back in her chair, keeping her eyes downcast.

 

Archie got up and crouched in front of Regina’s chair, handing her a box of tissues. She snapped the top one off and wiped her eyes impatiently.

 

“If you need to talk, Regina, I’ll explain to Emma that she has to stay in there...”

 

“I don’t want to talk. I just want it to go away,” said Regina thickly.

 

“Perhaps telling Emma the truth would help.”

 

“No.”

 

Archie made an observation gently to her. “Whatever is going on is obviously very distressing to you.”

 

Regina sniffed and balled the tissue up in her hand. “I need you to get her out of my head. Please, I can’t go through it again.”

 

Emma could see Regina and Archie talking but didn’t know what they were saying. Wordlessly, she reached across with her free hand and captured Regina’s, lacing their fingers together. She waited until the brunette finally raised her wet eyes and then mouthed an apology to her.

 

I’m sorry.

 

* * *

 

Henry went straight to the Sheriff’s station to tell David and Mary Margaret that he’d seen Dr Whale go into the crypt.

 

“What would Whale want with Regina’s father’s grave?” asked David, strapping on his shoulder holsters.

 

“Because of this,” Henry heaved his book onto the desk with a thud and flipped open to an illustrated page. “In the book, the Evil Queen keeps the hearts in a secret place. She brought them with her and there’s nowhere else that’s safe enough here. Mom goes there every week to take flowers to the grave but I think she goes to check they’re still there.”

 

“Whose hearts are they?” said Mary Margaret.

 

“Everyone’s. They’re under her protection. See?” Henry pointed to the picture in the book of the Evil Queen standing in front of the crypt like a sentry.

 

“We need to get them back,” said Mary Margaret.

 

“But what does Whale want with hearts?” wondered David.

 

The adults looked to Henry for the answer, since he seemed to know everything.

 

“He’s looking for the strongest one,” said Henry.

 

The black bakelite phone on the desk rang shrilly and David grabbed the handle off the hook. After a short one-sided conversation David hung up and informed the other two what had happened.

 

“What is it, David?” said Mary Margaret worriedly, hopping off the desk where she’d been sitting.

 

David frowned, puzzled by the new information he’d just heard. “It’s the Montagues. They’re not stuck together any more.”

 

Mary Margaret thought back to stories she’d heard back in the other land and nodded. “That can happen with Love Flu. Sometimes the couple falls in love, sometimes they fall out of love and sometimes... it’s over before it even starts.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	10. I saved you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is rated M for mature themes/suggestions and some strong language, but please note descriptions are very minimal.

When Henry got home his mothers were sitting in the lounge room together but he could tell something was wrong. His Mom looked really upset like she’d been crying. Emma looked sad as well and she was covered by a blue shiny bubble that Henry supposed was something magical created by a spell.

 

“What’s wrong?” said Henry. “What’s that blue thing?”

 

Regina looked up when she noticed him come in. “Henry, I... Emma and I had a fight that’s all. It’s just a spell but she can’t hear or talk in there.”

 

Emma waved from inside the bubble and tried to smile at her son.

 

“Oh.” Henry waved back and then sat on the lounge next to Regina. “How long has she been in there?”

 

“A few hours,” admitted Regina. It’d been that long since Archie had left them after that stupid survey had almost brought everything out in the open.

 

“Are you okay?” asked Henry, tilting his head to look at her with concern.

 

Regina was surprised but managed to respond. “I’m fine.”

 

Henry wasn’t satisfied with that answer but he didn’t push it. Tim Montague’s parents had fallen out of love and now they were cured of Love Flu. Henry wondered if that would happen to his Moms too.

 

“When are you going to let Emma out?”

 

“She asked to stay silent. I’m not keeping her in there,” said Regina quietly.

 

They both watched Emma sitting in the bubble, a troubled look of intense concentration on her face. She played absentmindedly with the keychain around her neck, twisting it and pulling at it with her left hand, staring off into space as she slouched on the far side of the lounge to Regina’s left stretching their arms apart.

 

“She doesn’t love you, does she,” said Henry sadly.

 

Startled by the question Regina’s eyes snapped up to search his face, wondering how he could possibly know that.

 

“I wish you were together. Then we could all be a family,” said Henry.

 

Tears filled her eyes at her son’s heartbreaking words and Regina pulled him into a tight one-armed hug. The boy wrapped his arms tightly around his mother and laid his head in the crook of her neck. Regina had been in two-sided love only once in her life and losing that had been painful enough. She now knew the bitter sting of losing the love you never even had.

 

* * *

 

After Henry had left them at the station, David and Mary Margaret continued to try to work out the puzzle. The phone had been ringing off the hook ever since with new reports of Infecteds coming in, not to mention complaints about other related havoc like looting and minor assaults.

 

“What’s the total now?” said Mary Margaret, flipping through the patient files.

 

David sighed. “Forty new cases.”

 

Mary Margaret’s mouth fell open. “Since yesterday?”

 

“Kathryn just called. She and her boyfriend Frederick are stuck together. Do you know him? Apparently he works at your school.”

 

“Yes, he teaches sports, wait a minute... the school?” A lightbulb of realisation lit up for Mary Margaret and she rifled through the files looking for the original couples’ patient records as well the surveys they completed for Dr Whale. She scanned through their details again to check whether all five couples had reason to be at the school the day Love Flu first appeared.

 

“The Montagues - I know Ethel Montague drops Timothy off at school every day... The other married couple - Cathy and Heath Earnshaw - he drives the school bus... The unmarried couple, Gwen and Lance - they weren’t together romantically before the Flu but they’re both triathletes, apparently they jog past there every morning...”

 

Mary Margaret looked up with wide eyes at who she suspecting was the common person between the others. “David, what if Emma came into contact with the others when she dropped Henry off at school that day?”

 

“What about the fourth couple though? The teenagers who robbed the adult store?” David’s expression said he thought it was unlikely they had been at the primary school.

 

Mary Margaret held out the sheet of paper. “The hospital admission sheet says 15-year-old Tristan got caught shoplifting that day but was let off with a warning by Sheriff Swan.”

 

David felt the protective instinct rose in him. “Emma is Patient Zero.”

 

“David, we need to get to her before Whale does...” Mary Margaret trailed off worriedly.

 

Ruby ran into the station dressed in her jogging gear, frantically searching the place and holding her phone in her hand. She spied them in Emma’s office getting ready to leave.

 

“Guys! Guys! Where’s Emma? Why isn’t she answering her phone?” said Ruby hastily.

 

David was instantly alarmed. “Ruby, what is it?”

 

“It’s Dr Whale. He’s sent his vigilantes crawling all over town. They’re looking for Emma.”

 

* * *

 

Within the Cone of Silence Emma couldn’t hear the racket but Regina and Henry sure could and it was obvious from their faces that something had alarmed them. Regina immediately released the spell and the sounds of the world assaulted Emma’s ears in a roaring rush. It sounded like there was an army approaching them with shouting and clanking weapons.

 

Emma frowned in deep confusion. “What is that?”

 

“It’s an angry mob, dear, what does it sound like,” said Regina dryly. Even if she felt any fear she didn’t show it.

 

Henry ran to the window and peeked through the curtains to see fiery lights and unclear shapes of the many forms that were moving towards the house. The angry mob spilled into the front yard and marched towards the front door.

 

“Are you serious?” said Emma incredulously. “They’ve actually got torches and pitchforks! What do they need torches for? It’s daytime.”

 

“Henry! Get away from the window,” ordered Regina. “Come here.”

 

“What do we do,” Emma locked her eyes onto Regina’s and gripped her hand tightly.

 

“I think Dr Whale’s hunting party has finally caught up with us,” said Regina, but she didn’t voice her suspicion that it wasn’t her they were after.

 

Regina moved Henry between herself and Emma and the three of them stood huddling together in the middle of the lounge room. Regina joined hers and Emma’s free hands as well so that they were circling the boy. Purple smoke swirled around their feet and spiraled up and around the trio. Emma and Henry gaped at the unfamiliar sight of magic.

 

“Hold tight,” was all Regina said. Then just as the banging on the door reached its maximum the three of them disappeared into smoke.

* * *

 

Regina, Emma, and Henry appeared in Main street out the front of the entrance to Mary Margaret’s apartment building. Regina stuffed her hand into Emma’s jeans pocket to retrieve her keys and ordered Henry to go upstairs and stay there, which he did after as much protesting as possible.

 

“What does Whale want with us, really?” asked Emma.

 

“He wants a heart,” said Regina. “To bring his dead brother back to life. But it isn’t possible. Only the living were brought here with the curse.”

 

Emma dreaded asking. “Whose heart does he want...”

 

“Hello ladies,” they heard a voice from behind them and whirled around.

 

“Dr Whale.” Regina glared at him malevolently but didn’t seem too surprised to see him there.

 

Whale appraised them both, running his eyes over them and settling on their joined hands. “Regina Mills and Emma Swan. Infected with Love Flu. How sweet.”

 

“How did you find us?” said Emma, wondering how they’d managed to land right in front of the person searching for them.

 

Whale raised an eyebrow and pointed upstairs. “Mary Margaret’s apartment building? I’ve been there, done that.”

 

“Ugh. What the hell do you want?” Emma ground out.

 

“I want you,” said Whale. “Patient Zero. The first one to succumb to Love Flu started it all.”

 

“Emma isn’t in love. Neither of us is,” said Regina, hoping that would be enough to convince him.

 

The doctor gave them a patronising look. “It isn’t called Love Flu for nothing... why are you so sure it isn’t you, Emma?”

 

Emma grabbed at her keychain necklace that she wore as a reminder. “I have only been in love once before and it broke my heart. I promised myself back then that I would always be strong and never fall in love again. I have feelings for Regina, yes, but that’s it. It’s not love. And she definitely feels nothing for me.”

 

“Really.” Whale laughed. “Didn’t Regina tell you? There’s no such thing as one-sided Love Flu. The attraction has to be mutual.”

 

“What. Is that true?” Emma faced Regina angrily, wondering why no-one had bothered to tell her that piece of information. “Have you been lying the whole fucking time?”

 

Regina closed her eyes and her silence was her answer.

 

Emma became increasingly upset as she went on and she squeezed their joined hands in anger. “You made me think it was just me! That I was stupid for having feelings for you when you’d never return them. That even the thought of it was disgusting to you. You told me that it was all in my head and it wasn’t real.”

 

“Like you, I was in love once before and I vowed I would never let it happen again,” said Regina, with a grave smile, not bothering to deny it any longer. “I suppose I’m not as strong as you.”

 

“So all this time it was you who was in love with me?”

 

“We could never be together,” said Regina, dismissing the idea.

 

“Why?!” cried Emma. “Why didn’t you just tell me the truth? What else have you been lying about.”

 

Emma’s eyes narrowed dangerously at her. “What happened with Mary Margaret.”

 

“You really want to talk about that now?” Regina warned indicating Whale standing right there listening.

 

“Oh, don’t mind me. I’ll just wait,” shrugged Whale. “This sounds like it’s going to be good.”

 

“I can’t tell you. It’s not my secret,” insisted Regina, trying to persuade Emma to drop it.

 

“Tell me!”

 

Silence fell around them as a blue shiny bubble as Regina cast the spell that encased both women. “You will regret hearing this. There was a Love Flu epidemic shortly after I was married and an unprecedented number of marriages that year. Snow was barely more than a child when she became infected...”

 

“It was her father,” finished Regina in a low voice.

 

“No.” The breath left Emma’s lungs in a rush at the horror of it, not wanting to believe it.

 

Regina went on grimly. “Snow was young and confused. I don’t think she understood what was going on or why her father avoided her. She looked so much like her mother.”

 

The last part was said so bitterly that Emma’s stomach turned sick with dread and she had to ask. “Did he-?”

 

“No,” Regina sighed and revealed the rest of sordid tale. “They were stuck by the hands but it was only for a few minutes. When I happened upon them Leopold’s face was white with fear. He knew what it meant and what would happen to them - and the Kingdom - when it became known. I would’ve killed him right then - Snow had no other family to act on her behalf - but she begged me not to. I screamed at him to let her go and she became so afraid at my reaction that her hand was immediately freed...”

 

“I sent her away to the Summer Palace and put his death sentence on hold until she was grown. The secret would’ve ruined her life if it’d come out. The Kingdom would’ve fallen.”

 

Wet tears trailed Emma’s cheeks and she fought to keep her chin from wobbling.

 

Regina shook her head ruefully, trying not cry herself in sympathy. “Does it help to know the truth, Emma? To know the canker that rots at the root of your family tree? You don’t know what I had to do to save her?”

 

Emma let out a gasp and then bit her lip so hard she’d thought she’d draw blood.

 

Whale reached forward and grabbed their joined hands, jerking them out of the Cone of Silence. The bubble disappeared with an audible pop, jarring them out of their intense emotional exchange as the sound went rushing back into their ears.

 

Whale shook his head in wonder at Emma. “You ARE what I’ve been looking for.”

 

“Why me.” Emma wiped her face on her sleeve.

 

“Only someone with a really strong heart could love Regina.”  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The names of the four couples originally infected are those of famous star-crossed lovers, all of whom had tragic ends.


	11. Anything for you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To clarify the love flu stickings from last chapter - infection occurs when there are sexual/romantic feelings based on love/attraction only, definitely not platonic or familial love. So ordinarily a father-daughter pair would not get stuck together. Snow/Leopold's case was very rare because not only was he having impure thoughts, she was as well. Snow was grieving her mother, young and confused, and she emotionally attached herself (inappropriately) to the only person she had left essentially. Leopold is less forgivable, though grieving himself - his only credit is that he was horrified when he realised and didn't act on it physically - he never abused Snow. Although that may have been only because Regina managed to whisk Snow away. Regina was torn between killing Leopold to protect Snow and not killing him to punish her but she couldn't let that happen to a child. Eventually she got so sick of saving Snow and having to be wife to Leopold, along with her desire for avenging Daniel, that she killed him to make way for the curse so she could start her new life.
> 
> Of course, the other surprise in Chapter 10 was far more pleasant - it's Regina who's in love! Awwww.

"What do you want with my heart, Whale," said Emma in a low voice.

The doctor was honoured to be asked about his scientific work and answered her question enthusiastically. "I've been looking for a heart that will save my brother, to reanimate him, to bring him back to life! This will be a great leap forward for Science. Ah, only the strongest heart will do."

Emma's jaw tightened. "What makes you sure my heart is that strong."

"Love Flu only attacks strong hearts, starting with Patient Zero - the strongest of all."

"And that's me?" Emma shrugged casually. "Guess it's good my heart's still in my chest then."

"Regina's going to give it to me," said Whale confidently.

"Am I." Regina's laugh was full of derisive humour, patronising him. "I think I prefer it where it is. Not that it would do you any good anyway, Doctor, since your brother's body isn't even here."

Whale's face turned stony. "You are lying. You brought everything here with the curse."

"No," Regina said it as if it should've been obvious. "I brought who and what I wanted."

"I need it to finish my work," insisted Whale. "I must succeed."

"What makes you think you'll succeed this time after so many failures, Doctor? I won't let you take a chance with another heart."

Emma watched the exchange back-n-forth like she was at a tennis match. "Yeah, so we're cool then? Nobody's taking my heart cos there's no point?"

They both ignored her. Whale started to become frantic that he would never have what he needed for his death-curing experiment. Regina had commissioned him once before to bring a young man back to life, it didn't look like she would support his work again. His brother would remain dead. His work would die as well. Everything relied on one thing.

"I need a heart!" Whale clenched his fingers into claws.

"I warn you," said Regina seriously. "The hearts in this town are under my protection."

"I know you keep them with your father's grave. Now they're gone."

The slightest crack appeared in Regina's armour of confidence.

"If you don't give me Emma's heart you'll never see any of them again," threatened Whale.

"No deal," Regina said easily, inspecting the palm of her free hand. "Why would I risk the one heart I care about for the sake of all the others."

"If you truly don't care about them then why have you guarded them all these years?"

"I like pretty things," Regina said dryly. "You should see it when they're all glowing at once."

"You will not stand in my way," he growled, incensed by her sass.

Whale lunged towards her to attack reaching for her neck but he never made it as all the force of a small body collided with him. Appearing out of nowhere Henry pushed the doctor with all the strength he had and it was enough to send the man stumbling back.

"Get away from her!" ordered the boy.

Whale took the opportunity to grab Henry and hold him in a headlock. The boy's eyes were wide with fear and though he could barely talk with the arm around his throat he cried out. "Mom!"

"Henry, just stay still," said Emma, trying not to let her own panic show. "It's going to be ok."

"Attacking my son is a foolish move, Doctor," said Regina murderously, raising her right hand as it started to glow with electric blue flames.

"Ah ah ah, no magic please, or I will kill him."

Hidden in his palm, Whale revealed a scalpel blade now perilously close to Henry's throat. With the threat now clear, the doctor lifted his chin and nodded once at Regina.

"Take Emma's heart and give it to me."

Henry cried out before the arm tightened further. "Mom, no!"

"Do it, Regina. It's Henry," said Emma fiercely.

Regina's dark eyes flashed furiously as she weighed up her options. Which heart was most important? The answer was obvious but she hated what she would have to do. There would be no forgiveness for this. With an unreadable expression, Regina pulled roughly on their joined hands so that Emma lost her balance. The blonde fell forward and onto the hand that was thrust into her chest.

When Emma straightened up her eyes widened as she saw her heart in Regina's hand.

* * *

Mary Margaret and David were halfway out the door of the Sheriff's station when the black bakelite phone on the desk rang with yet another phone call.

"David, we don't have time!" said Mary Margaret over the shrill sound, gesturing out the door.

David hesitated, agreeing with her but not wanting to ignore it if it was important. "It could be about Emma."

David grabbed the handle off the hook and barked a greeting. He listened to the informant on the other side of the line, replying with terse answers before hanging up.

"That was the hospital."

"What? Emma?!" cried Mary Margaret, jumping to panic.

"No, no, it's not Emma. Hospital security has footage of Dr Whale... he brought a whole bunch of hearts and left them there. There's hundreds of them."

Mary Margaret's face turned incredulous. "Regina's hearts? Whale found them?"

"Yes," answered David. "Security's doing their best but we need to go to the hospital and set up proper protection immediately. The town is crawling with his vigilante police by now. We don't want this to get out in case it causes a run on the hospital of people wanting their hearts back."

"David, what about Emma?" said Mary Margaret worriedly.

"Yes, of course," David shook his head quickly. "Protect the hearts... after we find Emma and stop Whale."

Mary Margaret's eyes shone with unshed tears. "David, I can't lose my baby again."

"We'll find her." David grabbed her face and kissed her quickly before they ran out the door.

* * *

Regina held the glowing heart belonging to Emma in her hand but it wasn't pulsing red like the many other hearts she'd taken custody of. It was pure white like it had been bleached and was as heavy as marble weighing down her wrist.

"A heart of stone," commented Whale. "How apropos. Give it to me."

Shocked by the strange sight not to mention the fact that she was apparently still alive without her heart, Emma glanced at Regina to gauge her reaction. But the brunette seemed surprised by the heart's pure white appearance too.

Regina held out the heart, watching Whale like a predator while they made the exchange. She placed the precious organ in the doctor's palm and then grabbed Henry by his jacket to pull him away out of danger.

Whale held up the heart to inspect it. "The experiment will succeed. My name will be forever associated with life instead of death!"

"Not without this," said Regina coldly. In a split second difference she threw out a blast of crackling blue energy at him and then the glowing white heart magically appeared in her hand once more.

The electric blue flames roared away and collided with Whale's body sending him flying back across the street where he fell to the ground unconscious. Emma and Henry held their breaths, exchanging alarmed glances at Regina's display of badass. As the book told, the Evil Queen was not to be messed with but it was something else entirely to see it in real life. They waited a few minutes, watching to see if Whale would get up, but he lay still in the middle of the street apparently down for the count.

"He won't be getting up any time soon," said Regina casually.

Satisfied that the threat had passed, the three of them stared at the white marble heart in Regina's hand glowing softly with pure white light.

"Why does Emma's heart look like that," Henry asked, sounding almost afraid.

"It's strong. See?" Regina squeezed the marble as hard as she could to show the boy. The pressure would've crushed any other heart to dust but it had no effect on this one.

Emma eyed her heart like it was a foreign object. "Is that why I can't fall in love? I don't want it back."

Regina smiled softly. "Emma, it's your heart. You made it strong yourself … but you overdid it just a little."

Emma took a nervous breath and then nodded her permission. "Okay."

Regina replaced the heart gently, settling it back where it belonged in Emma's chest. Emma felt the pulse begin to race inside her veins at the touch. She hadn't known it until now but neither she nor Henry had ever been in much danger with Regina there. Her magic was more than enough for dispatching Whale, the trade was only to make sure neither of them got hurt in the process. Regina, who had once tried to put her into a poisonous sleep, had loved her in secret all this time. Admittedly, she'd only confessed under duress but Emma knew the truth now and it was amazing. Regina had saved her. Regina was _in love_ with her.

Emma stuffed her hands in her pockets nervously. "Thanks for... you know."

"Anything for you, dear," Regina said in an uncharacteristic display and seeming rather unsure about doing so. Their eyes held for a beat.

"Hey look," Henry cried suddenly, pointing down at them. "Your hands aren't stuck together anymore!"

Emma furrowed her brow and wiggled the fingers of her right hand in the air. She and Regina weren't joined at the hands anymore. They were finally cured of Love Flu.

"Huh. When did that happen? I didn't even notice. Did you, Regina?"

But Regina didn't answer, she merely took two steps backwards out of reach. Twirls of purple mist began to form around her feet.

"No," said Emma urgently, suspecting what was about to happen. "Regina!"

Regina's form became engulfed in the purple smoke and disappeared completely.

"Oh Mom," sighed Henry.

"I guess she couldn't wait to get away from me," said Emma, despondently watching the place where Regina had last stood.

When Mary Margaret and David found them a short while later, Emma and Henry were sitting on the edge of the curb. Emma was staring into space with a palpable sense of loss, playing with her keychain necklace by pulling it back-and-forth on the chain. She twisted it roughly, harder and harder until finally... it broke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emma's heart was inspired by a production still from 2x15 showing Regina holding a 'white' heart in the clocktower (the red glow is added later in post-production). I was intrigued by the idea of someone having a pure white heart and why it might happen. Note that this story follows S1 so the S2 stuff about not being able to love if you don't have your heart doesn't apply to the Storybrookers who are missing their hearts here.


	12. I love you

Emma pushed the vegetables around her plate with her fork, leaning her chin on her hand and staring rather morosely. The conversation at the dinner table went on without her as Mary Margaret and David discussed the tail-end of the Love Flu epidemic which had finally reached it’s peak infection rate.

 

“So how many people were infected with Love Flu?” asked Mary Margaret.

 

“Over three hundred,” said David, nodding seriously. “Most of the earlier cases have resolved one way or another but there are many couples who are still stuck together. It’s only been a few weeks but the epidemic will probably die out soon.”

 

“How’s Whale doing now that he’s locked up?”

 

“Being a pain in my ass,” grumbled David, and then checked his language remembering that Henry was at the table seemingly engrossed in a comic book while he ate.

 

Whale’s vigilantes had been disbanded and warned and none of them posed a threat any longer.  Whale himself was locked up at the Sheriff’s station, they didn’t know what to do with him since technically his only crime had been threatening Henry and his mental state at the time was still in question. He had been spending his hours behind bars alternately bringing up his one-night stand with Mary Margaret in David’s earshot and correcting a copy of Shelley’s Frankenstein with a red pen.

 

“It’s a relief that the panic has eased too,” said Mary Margaret, keen to get back off the topic of Dr Whale.

 

David agreed. “The looting and misdemeanours have stopped, thankfully. Probably because everyone knows Emma’s back on the job.”

 

“Storybrooke finally has a fair and gentle ruler,” said Mary Margaret proudly, but the smile faded at seeing her daughter so despondent.

 

“Emma, how was work?” asked Mary Margaret with forced brightness.

 

“Fine,” she muttered.

 

Emma had gone back to work straight away after recovering from the illness. She’d been going a bit stir crazy cooped up at home with nothing to do. Not being able to help with the various situations in Storybrooke which were demanding her attention had driven her crazy. She hadn’t been able to get her mind off everything that had happened with Regina either. She hadn’t stopped thinking about her... since she left. It was frustrating waiting but there was nothing she could do.

 

There’d been no word from Regina. None that Emma had received anyway. She knew Henry had seen his mother at some point though. For the first few days she’d heard “When’s Mom coming home?” about fifty times a day until the pestering abruptly stopped. Emma was glad that their son had seen her, even if she hadn’t.

 

“Any word on the hearts?” asked Mary Margaret hopefully.

 

The hearts had disappeared from the hospital before they could get to them. There was no record on the security footage tapes and nobody saw or heard anything but the hearts were long gone. Hospital security had no idea who had stolen them mere hours after Whale had deposited them there but David and Mary Margaret knew who it must’ve been. And since nobody had seen anything of Regina, they were slightly concerned about what she might be up to.

 

“Don’t worry. They’re back,” Henry piped up, barely raising his eyes from the comic.

 

David looked at the boy earnestly trying to get his full attention. “Henry, do you know something?”

 

The boy shrugged. “Yeah. Mom’s been giving the hearts back. Don’t you feel yours?”

 

“Henry, when did you see Regina?” asked Mary Margaret urgently.

 

“A while ago. She said I could tell you if I wanted to but I don’t think she wanted anyone to know what she was doing.”

 

Emma worried her thumbnail with her teeth and spoke quietly without looking at any of them. “Did she say anything else?”

 

“Not really,” said Henry vaguely. “She said she’d be home when she’s finished.”

 

Mary Margaret and David exchanged hopeful glances that it was true, for their daughter’s sake at least.

 

“She said to tell you she hadn’t been sleeping well,” Henry told Emma, frowning because he didn’t understand why his mother had sent that particular message.

 

Emma knew what it meant and her face crumpled. Her chair scraped the floor as she leapt up from the table and went into the bathroom.

 

* * *

 

David knocked on the bathroom door in their small apartment and called softly. “Emma?”

 

He went in and crouched in front of Emma who was sitting on the edge of the bath with a splotchy wet face. He pulled her into his arms, letting her bury her head in his shoulder.

 

“It’s going to be ok,” David soothed, placing his hand protectively on the back of her head. “She said she’d be back. I know it’s hard but you have to have faith that you’ll see her again. You know the story with your mother and me right? I always knew I’d find her again no matter what. But that doesn’t help while everything looks like it’s never going to get better does it?”

 

“Yeah,” Emma agreed in a watery voice.

 

David released her and brushed her blonde hair back off her face. “So. I’ve known Regina for a long time, not very well, but there’s one thing I do know...”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“She doesn’t usually let anyone stand in the way of what she wants,” David said wryly. He was pleased to see that Emma cracked a small smile.

 

“You wanna sleep here tonight?”

 

Emma shook her head. “No, I think we’ll go home. Henry has school tomorrow.”

 

* * *

 

It was close to midnight but Emma sat on the lounge still awake, biting at her thumbnail again. They’d gotten back to the house late so she’d sent Henry off to sleep straight away but couldn’t bear to go to bed herself, remembering Regina’s message. She crashed on the lounge downstairs in her pyjamas, hugging a pillow that still had some mascara on it.

 

Regina walked into the room without making a sound. She was dressed in a black suit and white blouse, impeccable as ever. Emma raised her eyes once at her before looking away to stare blankly again.

 

“Where’ve you been.” Emma’s voice was monotone, making it sound more like Regina had only been gone for a few hours without telling her, rather than the few weeks it actually had been.

 

“I had something to do,” said Regina stiffly.

 

Emma nodded. “Right.”

 

Regina came over to sit beside Emma on the lounge, perching on the edge primly but she didn’t say anything further.

 

Emma propped her socked feet up on the coffee table, a move which she knew irritated Regina, and she almost knocked the pizza boxes and ice-cream containers off onto the carpet.

 

Regina’s nose crinkled at the state of the place. On her way in she hadn’t missed seeing the dishes piled up in the kitchen nor Henry’s toys cluttering the floor everywhere. It looked like Emma and Henry had been staying at the house rather than the apartment since she’d left... and hadn’t cleaned up in that whole time either.

 

“What have you done to my house.”

 

Emma shrugged. “I figured if I made enough mess you’d know about it and come home just to yell at me.”

 

Regina frowned. “Are we fighting?”

 

“Dunno, kinda feels like we are doesn’t it?” said Emma and then mused to herself. “You and me are always fighting about something.”

 

“You seem upset,” Regina observed.

 

Emma exhaled roughly. “Last time I felt like this I was in jail with Henry’s feet sticking into my ribs.”

 

She couldn’t eat. She couldn’t sleep. Emma could barely concentrate on work and Henry was the only thing that distracted her from what she was feeling. It bothered her to know why she was acting like this. If her heart was so strong that it was a lump of stone in her chest- if her heart was so strong that she could never fall in love again- then why was she going around like a lovesick idiot? Hadn’t she been cured of the sickness? She and Regina had been stuck together like magnets for days but once the Love Flu broke shouldn’t the attraction have faded as well?

 

But it hadn’t. It had only made her yearn more.

 

“So are you going to tell me what you’ve been doing?” asked Emma, breaking the silence.

 

“The hearts I took in the other land,” began Regina. “I’ve returned them to their rightful owners. Secretly of course, most people didn’t know what they were missing. They don’t know that I could have used their hearts to control them or kill them at any time.”

 

“What’d you do - sneak into bedrooms at night and shove em back in.”

 

Regina nodded wryly at her obnoxious sarcasm. “Something like that, yes.”

 

“So you’re like Santa Claus but with hearts... Why’d you do it anyway? Why’d you take everyone’s hearts in the first place?”

 

Regina looked down before answering. “The curse - I thought that if I could control everything and everyone around me then I’d never lose again. I wanted a life where there were no surprises, where no-one could control me. By taking the hearts I thought I was trying to protect them, but the only heart I was really protecting was my own ... I now know that hearts are given, not taken.”

 

Emma let out a huff and shook her head as though she disagreed. “I don’t know about that.”

 

“You can’t force love where there is none.”

 

Emma felt a wave of sympathy at the hopeless statement, now that she knew some of what had been going on in Regina’s head all this time. She was always so closed off and she’d hidden her secret well. Actually, Emma thought, Regina was an epic secret keeper. She’d kept Snow hidden from an entire Kingdom for a decade. She’d kept the truth about the curse and the triumph of her revenge under wraps for 28 years without telling a single soul. She would’ve taken the truth of her love for Emma to the grave if it hadn’t been forced out of her.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me,” asked Emma, entreating her to answer this most important of questions.

 

“I didn’t want to love you,” said Regina stiffly.

 

Emma’s jaw almost fell of it’s hinge and she felt a pang of hurt. Well she had asked for honesty hadn’t she. “Thanks a lot.”

 

“Emma, it can never happen. You must see how this is.”

 

“No, I don’t see how this is,” said Emma snippily. “All I see is you, yet again, refusing to tell me the truth to my face.”

 

“I-” Regina broke off straight away.

 

Emma waited for her to answer but she had a feeling she was going to be waiting a long time and that irritated her. After all they’d been through, after everything that’d happened between them, and all the secrets that were now out, how hard was it to be honest with the person you supposedly loved? She herself was only waiting for a single cue from Regina, just a hint and the dam would burst for her.  

 

But no answer was forthcoming.

 

Emma rolled her eyes impatiently and got up off the lounge. “I’m going to bed.”

 

* * *

 

Emma lay on the side of the bed she’d always slept on when they were joined together, but she had her back to the door. She knew Regina had followed her upstairs and could feel her standing in the doorway but she wasn’t going to make it easy for her.

 

“Are you asleep?” she heard Regina say.

 

“Yes.”

 

The silence rang deafeningly for so long that Emma assumed Regina must’ve given up and gone until she heard a voice so soft it cracked it’s own shell.

 

“I love the way your curls fall on my pillow.”

 

The words made Emma’s heart leap with the promise of hope she’d thought would never come. She forced herself to lay there and listen instead of throwing herself at the brunette. Emma felt Regina sit behind her on the bed before going on in a thick voice.

 

“I love the way you and Henry think you’re getting away with something I already know about. I love the way,” Regina’s voice hitched, “you hold me.”

 

Emma rolled over, searching the brunette’s face as though seeing the words would make the truth more true.

 

“I’m sorry for loving you. The last person I loved was killed because of it. My mother ripped his heart out and crushed it to dust. I never wanted to love again. Anyone I love is in danger because of me and from me. That is why I didn’t tell you... And it’s also why we can never be together.”

 

Emma sighed dramatically and raised an eyebrow. “Regina. Get in the damn bed.”  
  
  



	13. Falling for you

"I'll sleep in the guest room," said Regina.

"Oh no you won't," snapped Emma, sitting up and throwing the covers back. "I got your message. You think I can just stay here knowing that you're crying your heart out in your sleep in the other room?"

"Emma-"

"No. You listen. Do you have any idea what this has been like for me."

Regina shook her head. "Please, just-"

"Argh! How strong are you - to have rejected me over and over again when you actually wanted me all that time? And you're _still_ trying to deny it. Well good luck with that because you're stuck with me now and you are going to hear me out."

Emma took a deep breath since she'd said everything in a rush. "Here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna give me all your reasons for why we can't happen... and I'm gonna destroy them. Ok, go."

"Emma, this is -" Regina started to complain at her.

"Go," ordered Emma. She folded her legs underneath her on the bed and crossed her arms, waiting.

"Fine," said Regina, rolling her eyes. "Your mother."

"Wants me to be happy."

"Your father."

"Looking forward to threatening you with a shotgun on our first date."

"Henry."

"Loves us both, can't wait for us to be a family."

"I'm evil."

"Only if you're still going to go around plotting and doing evil stuff. I plan to give you better things to do."

"I tried to kill you," Regina pointed out, trying to put an end to the flippancy but Emma's responses went from rapid to mere casual boredom.

"Fail. Try harder next time."

"We're too different."

"Opposites attract... and we're both very attractive."

"Emma, we fight _all_ the time!"

"Two words: make-up sex."

Regina set her teeth in annoyance. "You are the most irritating person I've ever known."

"Hm. Can't do anything about that one."

"That wasn't a reason, idiot. It was an observation."

"Oh look at that. We've reached the end of the list already. You got anything else for me? Cos I'm on a roll here and you haven't given me a single good reason yet. I really think it's just that you can't-"

"Emma!" Regina cried out suddenly. "Emma, stop."

Regina went to pull away but Emma cradled her face and tried to get her to look up. "There it is. That's the reason, the thing you don't want to deal with."

"I - I'm too broken."

Emma sighed at the unshed tears in her eyes and realised they were back there in the downstairs office again, close to the truth but refusing the answer. Regina had rattled off reasons but she'd saved the real one for last - it was her. She was afraid of giving her heart and losing it again, of having her happiness ripped away from her. Emma had assumed that the Evil Queen had been a seductress, unfeeling and cold, when in reality she'd only ever felt how it was to be the one to surrender control or to withhold it from another. She'd never experienced love or what it was like to lose control together.

"You will never have to go through that again," said Emma firmly, making it a promise. "You said I made my own heart strong, so strong it turned to stone. I can chip away at it. Can you wait until my heart catches up with yours?"

Regina's eyes snapped up and gazed at her in wonder. "How can you promise that."

"Because I know this story. One of us is going off a cliff in the end … and I'm already falling for you."

* * *

Emma woke up with the biggest smile on her face.

For the first time in weeks Regina was lying all over her again, with her head above her heart. She had woken up at some point in the night, but when she saw that Emma was still there she fell right back asleep.

Emma glanced at the clock, it was nearly time that she would have to get up and make Henry's lunch before taking him to school. Hopefully the kid wouldn't rat her out for what she'd been packing him for the last few weeks. She could get Regina to do it this morning instead now that she was back, Emma thought sneakily. Kid was probably sick of Apollo bars anyway.

"Wake up, gorgeous," Emma whispered, brushing her hand over silky dark hair. It was longer than she'd ever seen it.

"Is that any way to wake a queen," murmured Regina.

"Would you prefer if I woke you with a kiss?"

"Mm. I suppose you can hardly infect me with Love Flu again." Regina had to lift her head when Emma started to laugh softly.

To her surprise it was Regina who initiated the kiss. She threaded her fingers through Emma's messy curls and brought their lips together for the first time. Emma gasped at the sensation and Regina took advantage by deepening the kiss, earning a moan for it.

"Emma," she whispered breathlessly, before shifted over her.

Regina's lips parted seductively, revealing her perfect white teeth, and then she pressed a kiss in the V in Emma's pyjama top, making her way towards her heart.

The door to the bedroom opened and they sprang apart. "Emma, are you up yet? I haven't got my homework and- MOM!"

Henry ran and launched himself onto the bed, landing between them in a belly-flop. He scrambled closer and threw his arms around her. He was almost dressed in his school uniform but was wearing only one sock so far.

"You're back! When did you get home."

"Henry, I missed you," murmured Regina, holding him tight. She stroked his messy dark hair out of his eyes. "You need a haircut."

"Mom, guess what Emma did! She put your crystal glasses in the dishwasher even though you said never to do that. And one time we stayed up all night and didn't go to bed at all and it was a school night too and then I fell asleep in class but I didn't get in trouble cos Miss Blanchard said it was - mmph!"

"Henry!" Emma shrieked and cupped a hand over the boy's mouth. "Kid, you are so not helping my cause here. And d'ya think you could knock next time before coming in?"

"Be warned, Emma," said Regina, amused at her son's lack of filter. "Children do not knock."

"And apparently," Emma poked Henry in the side with each word, "they. can't. keep. secrets. either."

"Emma," complained Henry with a laugh, wriggling out of her arms. He leapt off the bed and started pulling at Regina's arm. "Mom, Mom, come on. I have to show you something."

Emma grinned at her. "Yeah, Mom, you heard the kid - up!"

The look Regina gave her could've flattened the town as she was pulled out the door by a very persistent ten-year-old. Emma caught sight of the flick of a wrist a few seconds too late and then every pillow on the bed flew toward her at once.

* * *

"I've got a plan to make Emma fall in love with you."

"Henry," said Regina, wincing slightly. She closed the door to Henry's bedroom and then started packing his schoolbooks into his bag while Henry unfolded a sheet of paper with notes written in his kidscrawl and spread it out onto his bed.

"See? It has to work," Henry insisted.

Regina sat on the bed and sat him down next to her. He was so sweet sometimes and he wanted so much for this to work out. She'd missed seeing him every day. She could hardly believe herself, looking back to last year, when he would barely speak to her and she would let him. How could she have let things get so bad between them that her son thought she didn't love him? She wanted to earn his forgiveness for her own sake though, not just because he wanted her to be with Emma. She had to try harder, she had to be better now, for him.

"I love you."

"Yeeees, and you love Emma too," said Henry in an impatient 'duh' voice. "But we have to get Emma to love you back."

"It doesn't work like that," said Regina gently.

"But it has to! You haven't even seen my plan yet."

The corner of her mouth twitched. "Very well. What's your plan?"

"You have to let Emma love you," announced Henry, as though that non-specific statement explained everything. "And it might help if you take her out on a date."

"I don't know how to-"

"You're right," Henry interrupted. "We might need to ask someone who's actually been on one."

There was a single knock and Emma poked her head around the door. She came in, dressed in her usual dark skinny jeans and red jacket with the Sheriff's badge displayed.

"What are you two up to in here?" said Emma, eyeing them suspiciously.

"Nothing," said Regina quickly, folding up Henry's plan.

"Mm. Alright. But I'm watching you," said Emma, squinting. "Kid, hurry up you're going to be late. Where's your shoes?"

"They're on the stairs," said Regina to Henry, giving him a disapproving-Mom look.

He hoisted up his backpack and ran off sheepishly to get the shoes, grabbing the Tron lunchbox out of Emma's hand on the way.

"So," Emma teased to cover her nervousness, leaning against the doorway. "You gonna be alright here by yourself until I get home from work? You can uh, fix up the house while I'm gone if you want. It's a mess."

"I have better things to do."

"Ok fine, have your secrets. I'll get it out of you eventually."

"I doubt it," said Regina as Emma turned to go. She got up quickly to follow and called her back. "Emma?"

Regina stepped close into her personal space and a thrill sped through her to see Emma's eyes drop immediately to her lips. She moved closer and let her mouth hover over Emma's parted lips, while simultaneously raising the hem of her shirt, letting her nails graze over the exposed hip there. Emma flinched and a shiver ran through her at the barely-there touch.

Their breaths mingled hotly until Regina closed the small gap between their mouths. She sucked lightly on Emma's bottom lip before drawing back.

"I... uh... work... kid," said Emma, lost for words and pointing vaguely downstairs. "I have to go."

Regina smirked to herself, watching the blonde descend the stairs while sneaking longing looks. Maybe this wasn't going to be as hard as she thought. Seducing Emma was going to be a cinch but how to get to her heart?

* * *

This was impossible, Regina decided, trying to calm her agitation as she headed towards the Sheriff's station at a brisk pace. All she'd done was drop in to see Archie and then gone to the diner to pick up lunch for Emma (she hadn't told Ruby it was for Emma but the waitress had merely given her a shit-eating grin and packed the "Sheriff's favourite" into the bag)... but everywhere she went people stared.

And stared.

Most of them hadn't seen her since before the curse broke and definitely not after magic had returned. Their former Mayor was back _and_ she'd been infected with Love Flu! It was the news of the hour in a small town like Storybrooke where during the cursed years nothing happened _ever_. Not only was she stuck but it'd been with a woman, and not just any woman - the Sheriff - Snow White's daughter - the Saviour!

Some decided it had that beautiful star-crossed lovers element to it (and they stroked their well-thumbed copies of Romeo and Juliet lovingly), some assumed it was merely a front in lieu of punishing the Evil Queen for her crimes, and others didn't care in the slightest.

Regina cared though. Because if this was going to work out, if it even had a chance of working out, the town was going to have to make peace with her presence. Emma had to work and Henry had to go to school... Regina couldn't go around fixing everything with magic or intimidating the populace any longer. She had to be... good. Her lip curled in distaste at the sugary word.

But Emma had promised it was going to be ok. Last night she'd promised her a happy ending and all Regina would have to do was be patient, to put one foot in front of the other until they got there.

" _You're going to have my heart one day, Regina. I will love you. Do you trust me?"_

" _Not in the slightest," said Regina wryly. "But I suppose you may try."_

_Emma grinned, not believing a word she said. "Good. Cos I'm going to make you happy if it's the last thing I do..."_

Patience is for peasants, thought Regina dismissively as she pushed open the door to the Sheriff's station. She'd been there before many times of course, originally to see Graham and manipulate him into doing whatever she wanted, but also when Emma became Sheriff she'd had a habit of turning up to berate her for slacking off or for Henry's behaviour or for any number of contrived reasons.

Her heels clicked on the cheap lino and she stopped abruptly in her tracks, the slight smile of anticipation sliding off her face, when all sets of eyes in the room snapped to her. None of them belonging to Emma and none of them belonging to anyone she wanted to see right now. She chided herself for forgetting this detail.

She should've known who would be there.


	14. Home to you

Regina stopped dead in her tracks entering the Sheriff's station where Emma was nowhere to be seen.

"Regina! Henry told me you're back. I'm so glad," said Mary Margaret brightly, sitting on the edge of the Deputy's desk. David also turned around in surprise.

"Miss Blanchard. Why aren't you at school teaching my son something useful," said Regina to cover her discomfort.

"Oh, I just came to bring David's lunch, I have to go in a little bit." Mary Margaret checked her watch.

Regina's grip crinkled around the paper takeaway bag in her hand. "Where's Emma?"

"Out on a call. But she'll be back soon," offered David, but even so he wearing an narrowed expression something like 'what are your intentions with my daughter'.

A round of laughter came from the cell in the corner, attracting their attention. Whale sat on the cot with his foot on the edge and one arm resting on the bent knee. He lowered the book in his hand. Like the others, he'd realised her purpose in coming there.

"You've been cured of love sickness I see, Regina." Whale leered. "Or have you?"

"Whale," warned David with a sigh born of long suffering. "Shut up or I'll waterboard you."

* * *

Regina tamped down the temptation to incinerate them all and escaped without any effort at politeness. She berated herself, wondering what she'd been thinking going there at all. As soon as she hit out onto the streets she almost ran into someone.

"Hey, watch it," said Leroy. He was hand-in-hand with that clumsy girl from the nunnery.

"Get out of my way." Regina glowered at him.

"Hey, back up there, sister. I got something to say."

"I'd be delighted to not hear it," said Regina, intending to push past them.

"You better take care of that kid," he warned.

Regina pinned a malevolent glare on the short man. "Excuse me? My son is none of your concern."

"I meant Emma," Leroy lowered his bushy eyebrows and then looked her up and down as if to size her up.

Regina exhaled sharply. Apparently the dwarf's gruff affection for Snow White extended to her child as well. Of course everyone was worried about Emma's heart and not hers. They didn't know that _she_ was the one in the relationship without the benefit of knowing she'd ever be loved in return.

"Hey, it's cool," said Leroy, shrugging. "I dig it. I know what it's like to be in love with a girl who everyone says you shouldn't be with."

He held up his and Astrid's stuck hands and gave her a grin as they walked away.

Regina couldn't be bothered risking walking the rest of the way home and encountering more Storybrookers threatening her against doing something to hurt Emma. She was just about to disappear into smoke when she heard footsteps coming up behind her, expecting it to be someone else warning her off.

"I'm not going to hurt Emma!" said Regina, getting exasperated. She whirled around to see the woman herself standing there with a comically raised eyebrow.

"Glad to hear that," quipped Emma. "But now I'm wondering why you have to say it... and to an empty street."

Regina made a noise of frustration. "Emma, everyone knows about us."

"Yeah, that's gonna happen eventually..." said Emma, unsure what the problem was and thinking maybe Regina was already starting to have regrets.

"When secrets come out... people get hurt," said Regina, looking away into the distance.

"It's going to be ok," said Emma softly, reaching for her hand.

"Emma, just because you keep saying it doesn't make it true."

"Actually, that's exactly why it's true." Emma smiled at her gently and laced their fingers together. "And hey, this is new ground for me too. So if you're freaking out, can you let me know _before_ it gets to the point where you burn the town to the ground?"

"I'd spare you and Henry," said Regina sighing. "And your parents I suppose... if I must."

"What are you doing here anyway?"

Regina cleared her throat and held out the takeaway bag. "I brought you lunch."

Surprised by her gesture, Emma peeked in the bag. "Cheeseburger. Aw, that's so sweet."

Regina grimaced. "I am not sweet. I ruin lives."

Emma snorted and rolled the top of the bag closed. "Well, you were doing a crap job of 'ruining my life' this morning when you had your tongue down my throat."

"You'll have to re-heat that now," said Regina, referring to the lunch.

"Eh. I like it better when it's a bit soggy."

Regina gave her a look of disgust, clearly re-evaluating what she'd gotten herself into. But the frown melted away when Emma leaned in and kissed her.

"You're picking up Henry after school right? See you at home later."

"Home?" repeated Regina, wondering which place she meant.

"Yeah," said Emma, pushing open the door to the station and giving her a wink. "Where the heart is."

* * *

Regina decided to walk home after all, bypassing the store on the way in order to pick up a few groceries for dinner. She knew from Henry that Emma had been feeding him all manner of unhealthy things over the last few weeks - dinner was more likely to be pizza or nachos than anything involving vegetables or nutrients.

She stopped on the sidewalk outside of Game of Thorns and after a long hesitation she went inside the shop before she could change her mind.

...and immediately regretted it. What was she doing browsing in a flower shop for someone who had never indicated an inclination for flowers anyway? And as dopily romantic as it was, there was no way Emma was going to fall in love with her because she bought her a few blooms no matter what Henry's plan said.

She spied Belle over near the counter and went to duck out of the shop quickly.

"What a pleasure it is to see you recovering so well, Regina," said an accented male voice from behind her, stalling her escape.

"Gold." Regina gritted her teeth and turned around slowly, wondering if her luck could get any worse today.

"How are you getting on with Miss Swan?" said Gold, as though he were making a polite inquiry about an acquaintance.

Regina's lip into a dangerous leer. "Oh, we're getting off just fine, Emma and I. How is it with you and Belle? Remind me, what is the age difference between you... is it three centuries or four?"

Gold just smiled genially through her sass. "How is Mary Margaret taking the news?"

Regina was just about grinding her teeth away at how the entire population of Storybrooke had suddenly become so preoccupied with her love life. Didn't these people have anything better to do? Hopefully, Emma would turn out to be right and everyone would get bored of it soon. But Gold was not as harmless as the rest of them... he had the power to make life very hard for her if he chose.

"Mr Gold." Regina donned her best winning politician demeanor. "In this world we both have much to lose. How about a truce?"

"What do you have in mind," said Gold wryly. "Stay away from my girl and I'll stay away from yours?"

"Something like that."

Gold pressed his lips together and nodded slowly, accepting her proposal. "Sounds more like a stalemate than a truce..."

He leant on his cane and reached past her to collect an enormous bunch of blood-red roses from the stand. He spoke over his shoulder before heading for the counter.

"...there may come a time when you have something I want."

Regina rolled her eyes, dismissing it as Gold's attempt to irk her and get the last word in. She left the shop empty-handed.

* * *

Regina waited outside the school in the thick of the chaos as kids chased each other out of the gates and parents waited in groups chatting outside the line-up of SUVs. She'd caught a few looks directed at her here too. She wasn't that well known by sight surely. Hardly anyone in Storybrooke had known the Mayor personally and in the other land even fewer of them had seen her queenly visage in person. How bizarre that they knew her better as Emma's lover than for casting the curse.

Henry was one of the stragglers out of the gate and he was walking with a blonde boy, both of them had their heads stuck in the comic Henry was holding.

"Henry?" Regina called for his attention to let him know where she was among the crowd.

"Mom! Can Tim come over?"

Henry's young face was so full of excitement she wouldn't have said no for anything. Regina was shocked to see that a huge bruise blackened the other boy's eye at the same stage of healing as her son's own bruise. Henry was now friends with the boy he'd been in a fight with?

"Of course."

"Yes!" said Henry, happily giving a high-five to his friend.

"Thanks, Mrs Mills," said Tim politely.

But their little celebration was short-lived. A large harassed-looking man turned up and made a beeline for Tim.

"Get in the car, boy."

"But Mom said I could-" Tim started.

"Go," ordered Mr Montague, before turning on Regina.

"I don't want my son to be around your kind of people," he blustered. "I don't care what my wife says."

Regina's anger flared dangerously but Henry's presence reminded her of all she had to lose by retaliating. She was heartily sorry that her son would have to witness this as it was. Not that she couldn't do it but the last thing Henry needed was seeing her murder his friend's father in front of an entire school of children and their parents. There was no way she was going to give this man the satisfaction of it.

She gave Montague a death glare and put an arm around Henry's shoulder. "Let's go, Henry."

They walked back to the car quietly.

"Are you ok, Mom?"

Her heart ached. "Yes, sweetie. I'm so sorry-"

"It's ok." Henry said but disappointment still sagged his shoulders.

"Maybe Tim can come another day," suggested Regina, though she thought it was unlikely… but Henry's next words surprised her.

"Yeah don't worry, he came last week already. Mrs Montague came over too to have coffee with Emma. Tim lives with just his Mom now. She's nice."

"It's funny," said Henry suddenly, pulling at his backpack straps.

"What is?"

"Mr Montague wasn't afraid of you."

He should be, Regina thought darkly. That moron was more worried about the fact that she was with Emma when he really should've been afraid of her using her powers to snuff out his miserable existence. Her commitment to change had been sorely tested in several ways today after only one day of coming back and starting a new life. What difference did it make being good if it kept you vulnerable to all the hypocrites and liars and dangerous people who sought you out, she thought bitterly.

"You really have changed," said Henry, looking up at her happily.

And then she realised it made all the difference in the world.

* * *

When Emma walked in the door to 108 that evening she was greeted with the sounds of laughter and a heavenly aroma coming from the kitchen.

"Is it ready yet, Mom?" she heard Henry ask.

"Henry, get out of the pasta. You're worse than Emma," Regina chastised lightly.

"When's Emma getting home."

"After work, not long I hope."

Emma smiled while watching them both through the doorway, hardly believing how lucky she was. Most of her life she'd spent alone, relying on only herself, and now she had found not just her parents but a family of her own to come home to as well. Only yesterday she'd been dragging her feet through the day, missing the one who was missing from her life. Today, she'd sailed through everything on cloud nine and raced home eager to see her. That feeling would never go away.

Henry noticed her come in to the kitchen to join them at the bench where Regina was dishing out the steaming hot pasta onto three plates.

"Emma!" cried Henry happily.

"Hey kid," Emma ruffled his hair on her way over to Regina. "Hi. Need a hand?"

Regina smirked at her choice of words and finished pouring the neopolitana sauce over the meals. "Not if we want dinner to be edible."

Emma pretended to be wounded. "That hurts, Regina. How was your day?"

"Terrible," said Regina dryly, taking the saucepan to the sink. "Started off well, then it only got worse. But things may improve now though..."

"You know, saving the day _is_ kinda my thing," hinted Emma with a lopsided smile. She grabbed Regina's waist and pulled her towards her to capture a kiss...

The Storybrookers eventually got over the novelty of them being together since they were only one of many couples who were united by Love Flu infection. Following the known history of Love Flu epidemics, there were an unprecedented number of marriages in Storybrooke that year but there were also a number of relationships that fell casualty, including Timothy Montague's parents'. As the bruises faded on both their faces, Henry and Tim became best friends upon finding common ground in their shared interest in fantasy fiction.

Back in the dining room, Henry watched his mothers steal look from each other over dinner and tilted his head at them curiously. "So you guys are together now?"

"Yeah. Is that ok with you kid?" said Emma, hoping like anything that he wouldn't say no.

Henry grinned happily. "Yeah! This is gonna be great. But Emma, I thought you didn't even like Mom."

Emma swallowed nervously and shot the brunette a look. "I uh, I do. I like her a lot."

Henry persisted with his questioning. "But how long have you liked her? You guys were always fighting!"

"I dunno. Maybe I was just trying to get her attention?" Emma's lips twisted into a smile.

"Ohhh," said Henry, happy with that explanation. "Hey! It's just like in my book- Snow White and Prince Charming didn't like each other at first either."

Emma tried to contain a burst of laughter at the look on Regina's face at hearing her own love story compared to the one she tried to destroy...

Mary Margaret and David were able to push aside old prejudices and fears to accept that their daughter's life was now joined with their former enemy's. It was complicated at times but all of them made a strained kind of effort to get along for Emma and Henry's sakes. Having essentially traded Emma's childhood for the price of the breaking the curse they decided they would never again compromise their daughter's happiness. Regina riled them up at every chance, stubbornly maintaining that the only thing she liked about Mary Margaret was her chin.

After dinner, Henry ran off to play in his room and Emma cornered Regina before she had a chance to clear the table.

"I know what would make today much better..." Emma whispered like a song and wrapped her arms around her, holding Regina tight before she could escape.

"Emma Swan you are so easy. Don't you want to wait until you're in love?"

Emma pretended offense. "Hey, I'm just trying to be consistent here. We've already done this whole thing backwards: first we had a kid, then we moved in together... I figure we're due to have sex and _then_ we can go on our first date."

"Henry's got a plan for us." Regina smirked and took Henry's folded-up paper out of her pocket.

"Smart kid. He gets that from me. It's obviously my genetic influence."

Regina just looked at her in amusement. Emma scanned the plan written in Henry's scrawl, noting that the young boy's plan was good but he had left out a fair few of the more adult things that she had in mind.

"Geez our kid is somewhere between creative genius and evil mastermind, you know that right?"

"Yes. He gets that from _me_." Regina smiled wickedly...

Predictably, Emma and Regina's first date did not go well despite the grand plans that Henry concocted. In fact it led to a fight, neither the first nor the last by far, but it was their first one since becoming a couple and there was plenty of hurt in the air. Two people with nothing between them have nothing to fight about and since the stakes were higher now, there was more kindling between them than ever before to catch alight.

At first Regina outright refused to talk about certain things but as she and Emma got to know each other and spent time together over the days, weeks, and months that passed, the secrets fell between them one by one. Regina realised that she had been the one standing in her own way and came to trust Emma's promise that things would work out. She finally got to experience love with the one she loved, having only had one or the other exclusively in her previous life.

One small change led to another and though neither of them could see it, Emma's heart began to soften in her chest and it gradually suffused with a blood-red glow. To Emma, it felt both the same and yet completely different to the first time she'd fallen in love. After a decade of stoic loneliness it felt wonderful to finally have someone in her life, someone in her bed, and someone in her heart. And the best thing was they were all the same person - the woman she'd long held an attraction for - never thinking it was anything more than one-sided until it began to grow into love.

Emma and Regina had been stuck together when Love Flu first came to Storybrooke... but they'd been inseparable ever since.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue to follow


	15. I wanna marry you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will actually be three Epilogues ;). Thanks for the kudos and the comments!

Emma hummed along with the music as she and Regina swayed on the dance floor cheek-to-cheek. She was amazed she'd even managed to get the woman in her arms to dance at all since Regina hated PDAs, especially given the amount of people around who knew they were one of the many couples who had gotten together in the months after the Love Flu thing. As soon as the DJ started up the wedding guests had been drawn to the dance floor but at first Regina had been reluctant to join in, sitting at their table watching quietly. Emma had finally been able to cajole her by saying:

" _Come on, I was hoping for a dance with the most beautiful woman in the room."_

_Regina appraised the pretty blonde. "Indeed. So was I."_

" _This is gonna be really awkward if we're not talking about each other," quipped Emma, leading her onto the dance floor._

The lights had been dimmed this late into the night but coloured spots from the disco balls lit up random parts of the room at various times. As the music reached the chorus Emma got into it, singing along in a overly dramatic way in her off-key voice.

"We've got two strong hearts, we stick together like the honey and the bee...You and me..."

"Your mother chose the DJ didn't she," said Regina with a grimace.

Emma chuckled and placed a kiss in the brunette's hair. "Don't you like cheesy 80s love songs?-"

"You're the one that likes cheese."

"-Or do you just have to hate everything Snow White likes on principle?"

"Yes." Regina smirked. "Except you and Henry of course."

"Well, I'll consider myself lucky then," Emma teased, brushing her hand low across the bare skin exposed by Regina's near-backless dress. "Or three times lucky this morning, as I remember correctly."

"You're certainly pushing your luck right now," said Regina, glancing at Mary Margaret who was flitting around the wedding cake trying to shoo the children away from the icing.

"Apparently my mom is friends with Kathryn, go figure..." said Emma, also directing her gaze towards her mother who was wearing a purple bridesmaid's dress. "She's really into weddings isn't she."

"Don't get any ideas."

Emma flinched but covered it up with a nervous laugh. "Course not."

The pair continued to dance off to the side watching the other couples swaying around them on the dancefloor, including the bride and groom who only had eyes for each other.

"I guess the Love Flu epidemic brought happiness to some people," said Regina. "Kathryn told me they were only stuck together for a day before Fred proposed."

"When you know, you know," Emma smiled and shrugged her shoulders where Regina's arms were resting around her neck while they danced together.

Mary Margaret went to the wedding party table and announced they would be serving cake soon and having speeches. The music died down and the dance floor crowd started to make their way back to the tables. Emma took up Regina's hand and led her towards their table where Henry was waving at them to hurry up.

"Let's go sit down. I'm dying for a piece of that cake."

* * *

After dessert, Regina made her way to the cloaking room becoming increasingly annoyed at the woman she was looking for, who was apparently nowhere to be found. Emma had abandoned her to a dull conversation with Mary Margaret and Kathryn about wedding dresses after she'd been trapped at the wedding party's table. She had only just managed to escape semi-politely, half tempted to Cone-of-Silence them for going on and on about lace and tulle.

Regina frowned seeing that the cloaking room door was closed.

Henry had told her that Emma had gone to get something from her coat. Regina decided if the blonde intended to blow off the rest of the party without her she was going to be in big trouble. She opened the door to check inside. Suddenly she was pulled into the room by a surprisingly warm slight body who pressed her against the wall.

"Emma! Where have you been?"

"Hi, gorgeous," said Emma, placing kisses on her lips. She tasted like champagne.

They hadn't been together for that long really but when Regina felt Emma's hands move to her waist in that way she knew what her intentions were exactly. "We can't do this here. The wedding-"

"-is still going on without us, don't worry."

"Emma, has it escaped your attention that we are literally in a closet right now?" said Regina dryly.

Emma burst out a laugh, trailing her hands across the other woman's satin-covered middle and higher. "I didn't even think of that."

"Your hair will get ruined," Regina warned. Emma's curls were piled precariously on her head in an up-do with a complicated structure of pins holding it together.

"You'll fix it."

Regina sighed, becoming slightly breathless as Emma pressed her hips against her hard and kissed her neck. "They're going to know what we've been doing in here-"

"Don't care."

Emma ran her hand up the outside of Regina's smooth thigh raising the satin hem of the dress as she went. "You say 'not here' but this dress says 'easy access'. Did you wear this for me?"

"Yes, but for after the party. Not during," chided Regina lightly.

Emma continued to assault her neck, moving her way upwards till she placed a kiss right on a sensitive spot below her ear. She heard Regina gasp and her heart raced tellingly. That'd be the last of the half-hearted protesting. Emma drew back slightly with Regina's hand cupping her cheek. She was thrilled to see eyes darkening with anticipation.

"Aha! I got you." Emma moved her hand lower again and started up a rhythm.

"You got nothi-Oh!" Regina's words become a cried moan.

Emma pinned one of Regina's hands above her head and laced their fingers together. She kissed her deeply and then whispered in her ear. "Regina?"

Regina felt the heat on her cheek and her eyes slipped closed. "Hnm?"

"I'm going to need both hands for this." Emma's wicked grin said it all.

* * *

"David, have you seen Emma? I can't find her anywhere and it's almost time for the bouquet toss." Mary Margaret plopped into a chair next to David at the table where he and Henry were making a game out of stacking bonbonnieres on top of each other.

David shrugged. "No, I haven't seen her in a while. Mar, don't push it with the marriage thing."

"I'm not going to!" Mary Margaret was slightly offended.

David gave her a look. "Sweetheart, I know you love happy endings but just leave them be, ok?"

"Fine," Mary Margaret sniffed and then illuminated her real reason for wanting Emma. "But I'm her mother. Embarrassing my daughter is part of the job so she is going to be in this bouquet toss whether she likes it or not."

Henry piped up helpfully. "Mom went looking for Emma where the coats are."

Mary Margaret jumped up and raised her voice over the music. "Okay, everyone! We're doing the bouquet toss and garter throw in five minutes!"

Just as she left to find Emma, the boys' tower of bonbonnieres toppled over, sending chocolate hearts covered in purple-coloured foil wrappers all over the table.

* * *

Mary Margaret frowned, wondering why the cloaking room was closed. She pushed the door open and stopped in her tracks when she saw them. "Emma, are you in here- oh my god!"

"Mom!" cried Emma, hastily pulling the hem of her dress down where it was bunched up at the waist. She was sitting on the counter of the cloak room with Regina standing in front of her trying to repair the damage to Emma's hairdo.

Regina froze with the hairpins in her mouth while pinning up blonde locks of hair.

They were both dressed again, but from the wrinkles in the satin and the just-been-had hairstyles the pair now wore Mary Margaret knew exactly what'd been going on.

"But - you- I-" Mary Margaret gaped at them.

Emma cringed. "It's not what it looks like?"

Mary Margaret took in a deep frustrated breath and closed her eyes to count to ten. "Bouquet toss. Now!"

Regina put the last pin in Emma's hair, hoping it'd hold and that it didn't look too obviously different to before. "I am not participating."

"Oh yes you are. Both of you," insisted Mary Margaret, propping her hands on her hips.

"Leave her alone please. This was my idea," said Emma, referring to their cloak room tryst and trying for a bit of chivalry.

"Like I don't know whose idea this was, Emma Evelyn Swan."

Mary Margaret marched the guilty pair out of the cloak room without attracting too much attention and sent them to the dance floor where all the other unmarried ladies were gathered.

Kathryn stood on the stage in front of the DJ holding the bouquet up. "Have we got everyone here?"

The crowd of women huddled closer and got ready for the toss. Some of them merely waited patiently while others jostled at each other playfully promising a fight. Emma stood at the back with Regina, who had her arms crossed looking supremely irritated.

"I don't care if it hits me in the face," said Regina sourly. "I am not catching that bouquet."

"It's just a stupid tradition," Emma said with a wry side glance. "It's hilarious how superstitious you're being."

Kathryn turned her back to the crowd and then sent the purple posy of flowers sailing over her shoulder into her air...

… where it landed predictably on the floor in front of Regina's formal dress shoes.

The brunette merely glanced at the obnoxious object and stubbornly refused to budge. A few seconds passed while everyone waited to see if she'd pick it up, and when it became obvious that was never going to happen, two of the other women dove to the ground to fight over it.

An auburn-haired girl in a yellow dress crowed in victory, holding the bouquet over her head. "I've got it!"

"Belle, you totally grabbed it out of my hands!" complained Ashley.

Emma was amused at the thought of the next Storybrooke wedding being Mr Gold's and she turned to tell the woman at her side but she was gone. Emma looked around, furrowing her brow, wondering where Regina had disappeared to.

* * *

Emma found Regina in the chilly night air, outside the double glass doors that led onto the function centre's patio. The stars were out and especially bright since it was such a clear night. She could tell Regina was a little cold, holding her bare arms with her hands.

"Hey, where'd you go?" said Emma, joining her at her side. She rubbed her hand down the brunette's upper arm feeling the goosebumps.

"I just stepped out for a moment," murmured Regina.

Emma took a deep breath and fiddled with something behind her back. 'Listen, there's something I want to say... I don't know, um, if I'm doing this right or not and I know we haven't even been together that long… but there's something I want to ask you."

Regina's eyes snapped in alarm, taking in Emma's behaviour. The blonde raised her eyebrows hopefully but was fidgeting nervously.

"Please Emma, don't," said Regina worriedly, realising what was about to happen.

Emma just nodded like she expected that reaction and frowned a little. "You don't even know what I'm gonna say yet."

"You're going to ask me to marry you."

"You're spoiling the ending." Emma whined softly.

Regina bit her lips before whispering painfully. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Then don't. Say yes." Emma cradled Regina's face with both hands and ran her thumbs across her cheekbones. They were pressed close, thigh-to-thigh and hip-to-hip.

"Please understand. I can't get married again." Tears filled Regina's eyes and she tried to blink them away.

Emma nodded sadly and pressed their foreheads together. "I know why you're afraid. You were only in love once and never got to be with the one you loved. It breaks my heart to think of what your first marriage was like but I promise this will be nothing like that. We will be the same as we already are. Trust me."

Emma placed a light kiss on her lips and then smiled lovingly. "Two strong hearts, remember?"

Regina laughed once at the stupid cheesy line and nodded her permission to go on.

"I um... I," Emma stammered, horror dawning on her as her mind went blank. "I can't remember what I going to say."

"Emma." Regina shook her head in that 'you-idiot' way.

"Hey, you threw me off! I had it all planned out what I was going to say and now it's gone."

Regina pulled away intending to go straight back inside but she gasped when Emma grabbed her hand and spun her towards her. The blonde wrapped her arms around her from behind and held up her right hand at Regina's eye level against the backdrop of the night sky. There were two gold rings on two of her splayed fingers. Emma's was already on her ring finger where she intended it to stay and the other gold band was stuck at the second knuckle of her index finger since it was too small.

Emma's voice was close to her ear when she spoke in a soft voice. "I love you."

"We don't have to get married if you don't want to... but I have the ring and I was hoping that by tonight you'd be wearing it."

Regina could hardly contain the smile that twisted her lips. "Liar. You were hoping that I'd be wearing _only_ the ring."

"That too," admitted Emma. She swallowed nervously and took a deep breath before going on.

"So. Tell me the truth. Don't think about the past. Don't think about the problems or what could go wrong. Just tell me honestly, do you want to marry me?"

Regina looked down and with a shaky hand took the ring from Emma's index finger and slid it onto the ring finger of her own left hand. The simple action made Emma's heart flutter like wings in her chest.

"Is that a yes or you just like pretty things?" joked Emma, causing the brunette's hair to tickle her cheek.

"What do you think. Yes." Regina turned her head to capture Emma's lips in a deep kiss.

Some time later, Henry poked his head out of the glass doors and called them several times. "Moms. Moms! The party's over. Can we go home now?"

Regina drew back smiling beautifully and went to follow her son back inside. Emma joined their hands yet again in the Love Flu way now bearing identical gold rings, so they could go in together. Her actions earned her a raised eyebrow.

"Uh uh," chided Emma with a grin. "You're stuck with me now."

 


	16. I understand you

Emma got home late from work feeling tired and cranky. She'd been out in the suburbs on a call, responding to a report of domestic violence and when she'd got there she'd had to break up a physical fight between a husband and wife. As far as the danger went, the spouses were fairly evenly matched and both sporting evidence of their clash, but still it reminded her that not all was a fairytale in Storybrooke.

She walked into the dining room where her fiance was sitting at the table with a pile of paperwork, magazines, and fabric swatches. Emma immediately went to her for a hello kiss.

"Hey," she sighed, relieved to be home.

Regina pecked her back. "How was your day? I didn't know you'd be getting back this late."

"Yeah. Had a thing to take care of."

"Oh. Can you have a look at this and tell me which one you think is best?" Regina held up a couple of white scraps of fabric.

"Yeah, in a sec. I'm starving, is there dinner?"

"Yours is in the fridge."

Emma left and Regina called after her towards the kitchen. "Emma?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you bring it in here? I'd like your help with this."

A few minutes later, the microwave pinged and Emma returned to the dining table carrying her plate of lasagna and salad. She sat at the table across from Regina, making a space among all the wedding stuff and tucked into her food gratefully.

Regina turned around two sample menus to face Emma. "We have to choose between these two meal plans. I was leaning towards the first one but I wasn't sure if you'd like the other one better."

"I'm sure they're both fine," said Emma wearily. "Just pick one."

"Ok, but we're running out of time. There's a lot of weddings this time of year especially because of the Love Flu epidemic. I have to call the caterer tomorrow before 9am to finalise or we're going to lose our booking so you'd better be sure."

"I am," said Emma shortly.

Regina frowned, wondering what she'd said to annoy her but she decided to ignore it and go on.

"I organised the flowers. Your mother is going to check the colour scheme matches because we won't see each other's dresses before the day. But we still have to choose the table settings - and soon - because they're coming from _Oranges and Lemons_ and it'll take longer."

"What?" said Emma blankly.

"Which fabrics do you like," Regina laid out the swatches and decided to make it simpler. "These are for the tablecloths and these are for the napkins."

"I dunno," said Emma tiredly. "I just got home. They all look the same."

"Fine," said Regina. "I'll choose. Like I have chosen everything else for our wedding."

"Well, you're better at this stuff than I am anyway. What do I know? Look how gorgeous the house is. Just choose whatever you think and it's going to look great."

"Yes, but then it will be the wedding I plan. Not the wedding we plan together. Are you planning on turning up or am I going to have to do the ceremony alone too?"

"Stop it, Regina. I'm not going to talk to you when you're like this." Emma got up to take her plate back to the kitchen.

"Go have a shower. Maybe it'll wash the cranky off," Regina called to the blonde's retreating back. It was something she used to say to Henry when he was in a childish mood.

Regina looked down at the swatches in her hand and decided to go with 'Snow White Jacquard', hoping that Emma would at least be more amused on the day than she was now. She still had to go through and select bonbonnieres and vases for the table decorations but her heart wasn't in it anymore so she let the catalogue fall shut with a flutter.

* * *

Emma did have a shower and the searing heat washed away much of the frustration of the day. She tied up her wet hair into a bun and put on a tanktop and pyjama bottoms and her ratty slipper-socks that Regina threatened every day to throw out.

She went to Henry's room to look in on him while he was finishing up his homework. It was getting late and he was only eleven so she was going to tell him to put it away in favour of playing or resting.

Leaning in the doorway, she saw her son doodling at his desk. "Hey, kid."

"Hi, Emma," Henry said dully.

"How was school?"

Henry shrugged, returning to his drawing.

"You had a bad day huh? Me too," said Emma, ruffling his hair and kneeling down beside his chair.

"Did you have to catch some bad guys?"

"Not today. Just had to deal with two people who don't understand each other very well."

Emma simplified it so he wouldn't ask any specifics about it since she didn't want to get into explaining the situation, but she noticed he still looked a bit pensive about something. She hoped he hadn't heard her and Regina's tiff and been worried by it.

"Kid, you look a bit sad. You wanna talk about it or you want me to leave you alone?"

"Mm not really." Henry shrugged again.

His answer was vague and he looked like he still might want to talk so Emma decided to make herself available, near but not too near, by getting up to go sit over on his bed quietly. After a while, he spoke up all on his own.

"Emma?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you love Mom?"

Emma smiled. "Yeah, kid. I do."

"But you didn't always?" Henry swiveled his chair around and tilted his head at her.

"No... it kinda snuck up on me." Emma grinned at him and then turned a little more serious. "Henry, you know me and your Mom fight sometimes but that doesn't mean we don't love each other ok? We just get under each other's skin a bit."

"But what are you supposed to do if you like someone who doesn't like you back?"

Hm, this sounded like it was heading in the direction of a different talk, thought Emma. Maybe the kid wasn't worried about his Moms after all... And given their circumstances with Love Flu and a stone heart, this might've been a better question to ask Regina.

"I guess it depends on the situation..." said Emma, fishing for details.

"There's a girl at school in my class," started Henry. "I like her."

Emma's heart clenched, her baby boy was so growing up so fast. Thinking about girls! Geez, he was only eleven and it felt like he only just came back into her life and now she was losing him already? But his question about one-sided love had pinged her Mama Bear radar. This girl better not break my boy's heart, Emma thought grimly, and if she does Regina definitely better not know about it.

"Does she - I mean, have you told her?"

"Yeah, but," Henry twisted his mouth sideways resignedly. "She likes someone else. She has a boyfriend."

Emma tried to keep a straight face. An eleven year old girl has a boyfriend? What was with kids today. But then she sighed inwardly, thinking of poor Henry and his first crush not working out.

"Sometimes it happens that way, kid. It sucks ... but sometimes the person you like doesn't feel the same way. But it doesn't mean you're not awesome ok?"

He nodded but he still looked a little down and it made Emma think that wasn't all.

"Is there something else that made today suck?" she asked.

"Emma, if I tell you... can you not tell Mom?"

She cringed. "Kid, I'll try but I'm not gonna make a promise I can't keep ok? Your Mom and I are a team."

"Tim's Dad picked him up from school and I was there. He called Mom a bad word."

There had been a few people in town who refused to let the Evil Queen stuff slide but Emma suspected the slur wasn't about that. Regina had told her about Montague not wanting Tim to hang out with Henry because of his parents' relationship and it'd made Emma's blood boil. Not for her own sake, she didn't care what people thought, but she didn't want Henry to be hurt. But if Regina could hold off killing the guy or getting up in his face, then she could too. And apparently the Dad didn't bother to see Tim very often anymore anyway, now that Ethel Montague had been awarded full custody, which Emma thought was pretty damn low of him.

Henry wrote the word down on paper in texta and held it up for her to see. "I don't get it but I know it's bad. Please don't tell Mom, it'll hurt her."

Emma got up to go pull Henry out of his chair and into a hug. "Kid, Mom's a fairytale character but she does understand the world ok. There's lots of people out there who suck but you can't let it get to you. It would hurt her yes, but mostly cos she would be hurting for you. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah," Henry nodded, accepting it more easily.

"But seriously, is there anyone at school giving you problems over this? Cos I don't want to butt in and make things worse for you... but if you're in trouble I can help."

"No. I'm ok," said Henry firmly. "And I don't care what anybody thinks either. I love Mom and I love you... and I can't wait till you get married."

"Me too, kid." Emma closed her eyes and cradled his head on her shoulder. She grabbed the paper off the desk, crumpled it up with one hand and put it in the rubbish bin - where it belonged.

* * *

After Henry had gone to bed, Emma padded into her and Regina's bedroom where the light was still on but her fiance was already in bed. Not asleep, just sitting up flicking through a book like she was waiting.

"I uh, think we should get that cake," Emma started as soon as she looked up. "The second one at the tasting. You know, the lemon one with the um, white ganache or whatever it was. Have you ordered one yet?"

"No, not yet. I liked that one too," said Regina, putting the book on the bedside table. "Are you still in a snit?"

Emma gave her a sideways sarcastic look. "I was not in a snit."

"Perhaps you need a dictionary to check the definition. You were definitely in a snit."

"I know what a snit is. And because of that, I'd say that you were in a snit as well."

"'As well' hm _?_ So, we agree then. You were in a snit."

Emma went to her side of the bed and got in under the covers. She slid into the comfy bed and fidgeted around, settling her weary self down and pulled her pillow close to Regina's.

Regina brushed a few locks of blonde hair back. "You look tired. Sorry I jumped on you the second you got home."

"I'm sorry too."

Emma sighed and grabbed one of her hands to play with, threading her fingers through hers.

"Has Henry gone to bed?" asked Regina. "I went to say goodnight before but he was still up."

"Yeah, he went to sleep after I sat with him and had a chat for a while. He had a crappy day, poor kid."

"Is this an Emma-Henry thing or can I know too?"

Emma started to explain it a little. "Well, long story short is he's got his first crush-"

"Jenna?"

Surprise covered Emma's face. "How'd you know?"

"I know everything. Plus I've seen him dawdling around after school trying to catch her eye."

"Yeah. And there was a bit of crap with Tim's father. You know. But I won't tell you all of it, cos Henry didn't really want you to know. I think he's ok but he was worried about us. Sometimes I just think - well, relationships are complicated enough without the world butting in with it's two cents."

She sounded so jaded that it made Regina concerned. "Emma?"

"Yeah, sorry," Emma scrubbed a hand over her face. "I was out at the Earnshaws' tonight. Using each other as punching bags again. God, why are they still together? They're terrible for each other."

Regina reached over to switch off the lamp, sending the room into darkness, and then scooted down into the bed. She laid on her side and put her arm around Emma's waist to draw her close. Emma leant back into the comfort of it feeling immediately better.

"You still want to get married don't you?" said Emma, laying her arm on top of Regina's.

"Yes, of course," said Regina, like she was wondering why she would even ask that, "I'd hardly change my mind because we argued about something. And you'd better not be backing out either, Emma Swan. Because I already have my dress and if you break our deal there will be consequences."

"There's no way I'm breaking that promise. Sorry bout before, I didn't mean to act like I wasn't interested in the plans. I was cranky, I don't want you to think it was because I don't want to help. I know it's stressful planning a wedding, especially if you have to do most of it on your own. But really, I meant what I said. You've planned this thing so carefully. It's going to be beautiful."

"Yes, but I want it to be what _you_ want too, Emma. It's your wedding too and I want it to be perfect for you."

"I don't care if we wear burlap sacks and carry dandelions... I just want you there next to me. That's what will make it perfect to me."

Regina's lips twitched with a smile. "You can wear a burlap sack if you want … but you know your mother will kill you."

"Oh god," Emma groaned, turning her face into her pillow. "I just remembered. I told her she could come help me pick a dress on Saturday."

"I'm sure there won't be _many_ feathers on it, dear," teased Regina.

"Argh! But how could I say no?" wailed Emma plaintively. "She's my mother... There doesn't really have to be feathers right? Can't you like, pull the Evil Queen act and threaten her or something? Just this once."

"No," Regina said loftily. "I think some people are already expecting _her_ to make an appearance at this wedding anyway."

Emma detected a bit of strain in her voice though and wondered if she was ok with it all. "You're not worrying about that are you?"

Regina closed her eyes for a second. "Not really, but ... there are people who will look at us and look at our wedding and no matter what they see, they're going to think I don't deserve any kind of happiness at all after what I've done."

"You deserve to be happy, Regina," said Emma sincerely. "Please tell me you believe that."

"I don't know if I deserve it... but I want to be happy. And I want to make you happy."

"You already do."

Regina took Emma's chin lightly and tilted her face, bringing their lips together in a kiss.

"How do you do that," Emma whispered it inches away from her face. "Erase my bad day in a second?"

"I love you."

In the near-darkness she could only just make out Emma's face full of love mixed with surprise. After everything that'd happened, obviously she'd known it was true for a long time but Regina hardly ever spoke that way.

"You've never said that to me before."

"Well, I'm saying it now."

Emma laughed softly and leant up on her elbow to push Regina onto her back, covering her body with her own and started whispering in her ear.

"Aren't you too tired," asked Regina wryly, as her pyjama shirt got raised.

"Not for this." Emma started placing kisses along her neck and moving lower. "By the way, I've seen that other catalogue you've got over there. Have you ordered something fun?"

"Yes, but - " Regina arched into it and bit her lip against a moan. "n-not until after the wedding. And no - I'm not telling you."

"Well, let's see how good you are at keeping secrets then..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one more to go! Next up - the wedding :).


	17. Forever me and you

_I can't believe I'm getting married_ , Emma thought giddily.

She was dressed already and standing in front of the full-length mirror taking in her own reflection. She wore ice white, a simple dress flowing in waves around her, and she'd let Mary Margaret do her make-up. Her hair was out in shining gold, tighter and smoother curls than usual. The woman in the mirror looked radiantly happy... and beautiful even.

She barely recognised herself.

_I can't wait to see Regina._

The other bride-to-be was getting ready in another guest room at the far end of the hall. They weren't going along with many traditions today except that neither of them had seen each other since yesterday. They were holding the ceremony at home in the garden since the backyard at 108 was lush and green and in flower at this time of year and would easily accommodate what they wanted and the number of guests.

There was a knock on the door and a cheeky little face peeked around.

"Hey, Emma! Are you ready yet?" Henry smiled and came in to give her a looking over.

"Hi, kid," said Emma, running her hands down the lapels of his black tux. "Aw, you look handsome, little guy. All the girls at the reception are gonna fall for you."

"Emma," complained Henry, trying to wiggle away.

"No no, come here," Emma pulled him to sit down on the ottoman. "I want to tell you something pk?"

Henry waited patiently and she brushed his hair off his forehead.

"Thank you," said Emma with a soft smile. "Today wouldn't be happening if it wasn't for you. I know it was pretty rough and messed up last year but I'm so glad you came and got me. You brought me to your Mom."

Henry nodded proudly. "I did, didn't I?"

"Yeah, kid," Emma laughed. "No more running away though, alright?"

"I'm glad you came too," said Henry. "For me and Mom."

"She was kinda miserable huh," said Emma wryly.

"She smiles way more now."

"Yeah, and not just in the 'I'm plotting your demise' way either. By the way, kid, you've got chocolate on your face, what have you been into? Share."

The two of of them shared a grin of mischief until Mary Margaret appeared in the doorway and then joined them. Tears pricked the pixie-haired woman's eyes yet again upon seeing her daughter again. She clasped her hands together and there was a camera dangling around her wrist - no doubt the first memory card was half-full already.

"Oh, Emma!" she gasped.

"Really, Mom? You already saw me five minutes ago."

Mary Margaret pressed her hands to her lips. "But you look so-"

"- much less ratty than usual?" joked Emma, earning a light backhand slap on her bare shoulder for her trouble.

"Quiet. Or I'll tell your wife."

"Ooh I'm in trouble already," teased Emma. "But she's not my wife yet. There's still an hour left to escape."

"Are you nervous?" asked Mary Margaret, thinking back suddenly to her own wedding day.

"I thought I would be but I'm not. It's weird."

"Where is Mom?" Henry piped up.

Mary Margaret exchanged a look with Emma, trying not to appear worried by his question. "Ah, she's not in her room getting ready?"

Henry shook his head. "She's not there. I went in there before I came here."

Mary Margaret patted Emma's arm and then headed out of the room. "I'll go find her. I'm sure she's just-"

Emma bit her lip and called out. "Mary Margaret?"

Her mother paused in the doorway looking back and a silent communication passed between them.

"Of course." Mary Margaret nodded and left.

* * *

Mary Margaret went downstairs and then outside after checking every room in the house. She scanned a look around the backyard where the caterers were starting to set up and the chairs were lined in rows before an arbour of roses. Many of the guests were already there, standing around in groups, waiting for the time to pass until the ceremony would officially start.

She spied a familiar tall form in a black tuxedo and went over to tap her husband on the shoulder. "David, have you seen Regina anywhere?"

David stepped aside with her and spoke warily. "What do you mean. I thought the girls were supposed to be getting ready inside?"

Mary Margaret cringed. "She's not there. I've looked everywhere."

"Let's just-" David inhaled slowly, thinking how bad this appeared. "Let's have another look, ok? She's probably fixing up some last-minute detail or bullying the caterers or something."

They did end up finding her.

Mary Margaret and David went around the hidden side of the house where Regina was standing with her palm against the wall and holding her stomach with her other hand. She had her eyes closed, breathing hard like she couldn't get enough air.

"Regina? Is everything ok?" Mary Margaret said gently.

Regina jumped a mile in fright. She covered her face and groaned. "Not you two..."

"Just a little payback for gatecrashing our wedding," teased David lightly.

Regina gulped and laughed once without humour. "I'm relieved to see you without a sword then."

Mary Margaret shot her husband a look and he summed up the situation immediately.

"I'm just going to go... rescue something," said David, before returning to the backyard.

Mary Margaret went over to stand with Regina who was still avoiding her eyes shiftily and breathing rapidly like she was panicked.

"I know I'm last the person you probably want to see right now - or maybe ever- but I can get someone else for you? Do you want Emma?"

"No!" Regina said quickly. "I don't want to see her. I can't do this. I can't hurt her."

"I know you might think that everyone here is on Emma's side and no-one's here for you... but that's not true. You and I are family too."

"Yes, and look how well that turned out!" Regina said, sounding a little crazed.

"Today is about you and Emma," said Mary Margaret, gentle and kind but firm. "Emma is ready inside. She loves you and she can't wait to marry you... but she knew you'd be freaking out. She wouldn't want you to do this if you feel trapped, so if you've changed your mind I can make all this disappear ok?"

"No, no! It'd crush her."

"But what about you? What do you want?"

Regina looked like she wanted to be sick. "I don't want to get married again."

"Why."

_Because I couldn't escape. I lost everything. I couldn't leave. I couldn't be myself. Or think. Or breathe. Or live. Or love. I could barely move and time went so painful breath was a reminder of Daniel and the loss. The dragging loneliness that never ended. No, that's not true, it did end. It ended with death._

"I can't hurt her."

Mary Margaret tilted her head sympathetically. "You will though. Emma will hurt you too. You will fight at times and annoy each other. But they will be small hurts compared to how much love and happiness you will have. Put your trust in Emma and she won't ever break her word."

Regina blinked like coming out of a fog. "No, she doesn't do that, does she."

"Mom! There you are!" Henry came running around the corner.

"Oh, Henry, look at you," Regina sighed lovingly, looking at her baby boy so grown-up in his little tuxedo.

"Emma said to give you this," Henry said shyly, placing a light object into her hand and then ran away again to find David.

Regina looked down at the object in her hand and felt her heart fill to capacity with love for Emma at the gift she'd sent:

Two dandelions tied with a strip of burlap.

" _I don't care if we wear burlap sacks and carry dandelions... I just want you there next to me. That's what will make it perfect to me."_

"Tell me my daughter did not send you a bouquet of weeds on your wedding day," said Mary Margaret wryly, half ready to march upstairs and give Emma a piece of her mind though the other half of her suspected there was more to it than there appeared.

Regina's lips twisted into a shaky smile. "No, it's perfect."

* * *

Emma was already waiting in front of the arbour when Regina appeared, seemingly taking forever and a day to join her at her side. Her mouth dropped open at the sight of her, hardly believing her eyes that she could actually look more beautiful than ever. She wore a crimson satin dress that set off her dark hair and perfectly matched the roses in the bouquet in Emma's hand.

"Sorry I'm late," said Regina.

"Always gotta make an entrance don't you?" said Emma, not even trying to contain her grin.

Regina snuck a glance sideways before turning her gaze forwards. The guests behind them were silent and waiting, though hardly noticed right now. Emma's parents and Henry were sitting in the front row.

"By the way, the first course is Honeycrisp _appel salade_ ," whispered Regina.

Emma scoffed in disbelief and murmured out the corner of her mouth. "Are you kidding? You know who's going to get the blame for that! Mary Margaret is going to kill me."

Regina whispered back. "Well, perhaps you should've paid attention to the menus. Or me, yesterday, when I drove a crate full of apples to the caterers' and I asked you to come with me but you said no."

"I was on a high score! Henry was goading me that I'd never overtake him, the little br-"

Doc broke in holding his notes for the ceremony. "Um, if you two ladies are finished talking perhaps we can start?"

Leroy laughed gruffly to himself nearby. "Ha, there won't be much time for talking later."

"Why?" said Henry innocently. "The party goes for ages."

Doc cleared his throat and began. "Welcome, family and friends. We are here to celebrate love. Love which is the thread that runs through life and organizes our large and sometimes unpredictable realms. It is the basis of family, and the greatest gift bestowed upon someone is that of love freely given by another person. In marriage, t-"

"Wait!" Emma interrupted. "This is wrong!"

She picked up the hem of her dress and quickly switched from being on Regina's right to her left.

"What?" Emma said awkwardly, feeling the stares upon her. "I have to be on your left!"

Emma took Regina's left hand in her right one, joining them in the same way they'd been stuck together when infected by Love Flu, the same hands they wore their rings on.

"We're not married yet, there's still time isn't there...?" teased Regina, as the guests chuckled in the background as well.

"Nope. Last chance to back out?" Emma whispered.

Regina didn't answer but met her eyes softly, knowing that Emma could feel her hand shaking with nerves. Almost imperceptibly, she shook her head sideways and smiled.

Doc started the ceremony again:

"In marriage, two people turn to each other to find a greater happiness than either can achieve alone. But it is not without risk and means nothing without a promise. It is risking who you are for the sake of who you can be together.

"The words we say today have no magical power. They are merely a reflection of what already exists in the hearts and minds of these two people: Emma and Regina..."

* * *

"Argh! I feel like I haven't seen you in hours," Emma complained, finally catching up to her wife before she could be whisked away by another guest.

"Emma, we've been married forty minutes," said Regina wryly.

"Yes, but people keep coming over to me and wanting to talk to me and stuff when all I want to do is be with you."

"People want to talk to you at your wedding? I'm shocked," she teased.

The wedding guests were milling around the dining tables that were set up in the garden, either talking to each other or taking photos as they waited to sit down for the meals. Each table was draped in white jacquard and decorated with crystal vases of crimson rose arrangements and petals strewn around, surrounded by chairs tied with wide ribbons.

"Hey, I've an idea-"

"Emma, there you are!" said Mary Margaret, appeared and pulling at her reluctant daughter's arm. "I need you."

"Why," Emma whined.

"There's someone I want to introduce you to and then I need a few more photos."

"How is it that there's people I don't know at my own wedding in a small town like Storybrooke? And didn't we just take a thousand photos?"

"It'll only take a second," said Mary Margaret to the resistant blonde. "Regina, can't you do something about your wife?"

"I have no control over her."

Emma laughed. "Hah! Well that's just not true. What about the other night when you wore that thing and used your-"

"EMMA! Come on," insisted Mary Margaret, sending Regina a suffering look.

"Nooo. Regina, do something," Emma pleaded.

Regina just smiled evilly and waved, watching her wife get dragged away. She spied Henry standing with Archie over near the wedding party's table and went to join them.

* * *

"Hi, sweetie." Regina smoothed Henry's hair down and laid her hand on his tux-clad shoulder.

She turned to Archie and greeted him. "Dr Hopper."

"Mom, where's Emma?" said Henry, looking around trying to locate her among the throng in the yard.

"I'd have thought it would take quite a lot to drag Emma away from you today, Regina," joked Archie.

"Yes," Regina returned in kind. "All the force of Mary Margaret actually."

Henry jumped up and ran away seeing them over the other side of the backyard. When he was gone, Archie regarded Regina through perceptive eyes.

"Congratulations on your marriage, Regina. You look beautiful," said Archie in his characteristic humble manner. "And happy."

"Thank you, but I-" Regina closed her eyes for a second. "I'm not sure I can- Dr Hopper, in a few weeks would you have some time available? For me."

"Of course. Anything you need."

Regina exhaled slowly and spoke almost to herself, thinking of the promises she'd just made to Emma. "I want to give this its best chance."

Henry came running back, out of breath and talking rapidly. "Mom Mom Mom."

"Henry," Regina chided in amusement. "Has Emma been letting you fill up on candy this morning?"

"Um no," said Henry, all innocence and cheeky smiles.

"I suppose I don't mind, since you are staying at your grandparents' for a week. They're the ones who will be dealing with this sugar-high later."

Henry nodded and scrunched his nose. "I know. They don't know the rules so I figure it'll be easy to get away with stuff."

"Mothers always know," said Emma's voice right near her ear, suddenly coming from behind Regina.

"Hey Archie. Hey kid." Emma greeted them. "Sorry but I need to borrow my wife for a minute."

Since the rest of the guests were taking their seats at the dining tables anyway, Emma and Regina went to sit at the wedding party's table. There was only Mary Margaret, David, and Henry supposed to be sitting there as well, since neither of the brides had any attendants. But they were alone for now.

"Finally I've got you to myself! You are so paying for that later, wife," said Emma cheekily.

"You like saying that don't you."

"I'm not sure what you mean, wife."

Regina rolled her eyes lightly. "What have I gotten myself into?"

"You could've gotten into _me_ if it weren't for the fact that the meals are about to be served. We'd have had time too but no, you let me get abducted so now you'll just have to wait till tonight."

"Yes dear, I'm sure no-one would've noticed the sudden disappearance of both brides and suspected nothing."

Emma was just about to describe exactly what she should expect later when her parents and Henry joined the table.

David leaned over to kiss Regina's cheek lightly, at which she froze rigidly in shock. He placed a long velvet box in front of her.

"This is for you from both of us," said David, sitting back in his seat next to Mary Margaret. "I fully intend to embarrass Emma in my speech later but I thought I'd let you off the hook now."

"Open it, Mom!" said Henry excitedly.

"I-" The velvet box hinge cracked as Regina opened it and looked up at them with something between curiosity and disbelief.

"It was in my mother's family. One of the jewels that _someone,_ " David sent a sly glance sideways, "stole from me after ambushing my carriage. It's been passed down to a daughter or an eldest son's wife for a number of generations... until I found it in Mr Gold's shop, and now I'm giving it to you."

"B-but shouldn't it go to Emma?" stammered Regina weakly.

"We have some other things for Emma," Mary Margaret smiled. "This one is for our daughter-in-law."

Seeing as how Regina was actually speechless for once, Emma smiled happily at her bride and put her arm around her so she could kiss her cheek where a tear had escaped.

A waiter appeared holding several plates of the first course to interrupt the tender moment, smiling at the brides and their wedding party.

"Ok folks, are we ready to start here? Who likes apples?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to those who supported this story along the way. I love reading your comments and talking with you guys. I hope this satisfies your need for a happy ending? :) I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Originally I intended this to be a 3-4 chapter fluff piece to distract me from the angst of the show... and then my muse turned up and said, "Hey, how about a plot?"
> 
> But it's not over yet! There is a sequel to FLK coming soon, called Baby Fever, and it will not be exactly what you might be expecting ;). Pun oh-so-intended.


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